This is a church cemetery on Hwy 56 in Grundy County, TN. You will notice these pictures were taken
just before sunset.
Tarlton Methodist Episcopal Church History
By Dorothy Hobbs Irwin
In the late 1800's the New Union Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in Tarlton, Grundy County, Tennessee. It
was organized by John Morton, John Dugan, Sarah Dykes, Robert Dykes and Zebedee Banes. Meetings were held in private homes.
In May 1894, John and Adeline Morton donated land for a church and graveyard on the banks of the Collins River "for the
natural love and appreciation of the Methodist Episcopal Church."
According to the deed dated May 3, 1894, trustees
were W. T. Dugan, William Creighton, P. H. Rogers and J. C. Morton. A German immigrant, Mr. Schoon, furnished the logs for
the church building. Many names of early pioneer settlers appear on tombstones in the old cemetery. Among them are Hobbs,
Dykes, Morton, Wanamaker, Bess, Tate and Scruggs.
In 1947 E. J. Morton, a son of the Reverend John Morton, renovated
the church. The exterior walls were covered with brick and stained glass windows were installed. The church continued to serve
the small community of Tarlton until 1974, when it was closed for lack of attendance.
In April 1994, descendents of
church members formed the Tarlton Cemetery Association. The Methodist Episcopal Dioceses gave the church and cemetery to this
association, whose mission is to maintain them. Additional information and a complete list of people buried here may be found
at:
http://www.tngenweb.org/grundy/tarltoncem.html
