Harwell Cemetery
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Harwell Cemetery

Also known as Harwell African American Cemetery

Fayette County, Tennessee, USA

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  • Get directions 91 Bernard Road
    null, Tennessee 38049 United States
    Coordinates: 35.36738, -89.44200
  • Cemetery ID:

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From the intersection of Basswood Dr. & TN-222, Northwest of Somerville, travel West on Basswood Dr. for 1.2 mi.; turning Northwest (right) onto Old Fifty-Nine Dr., going 0.9 mi.; turning North (right) onto Bernard Rd., going 0.1 mi.; turning West (left) to this deeded African-American Cemetery, that was where descendants of the Harwell slaves were buried until the mid 20th century. Now, it is abandoned & not maintained; a thicket, overgrown with small trees, directly across the road from the Bernard Community Center, as notated on USGS topo maps.



This land was settled in the 1830s by Dr. Frederick Harwell, who eventually built it into an 1177 acre plantation. Originally from Brunswick County, Virginia, he had first settled in Giles County in Middle Tennessee, where there are many Harwells still today. Dr. Harwell and his wife, Sallie Crittendon, are buried about 100 yards northwest of the black cemetery in the middle of the field, literally in a brush pile.





During the Civil War, Dr. Harwell buried some gold on the plantation. The Northern soldiers tied his mulatto overseer, John Yarbrough, up and tried to get him to tell where the money was. Thinking they wouldn't remember where he had buried it, Dr. Harwell took some of his slave girls with him to bury the gold. Mandy Harwell Whitmore and Leticia "Tish" Harwell Bonner told their descendants stories about the gold. It wasn't until the 1940s that a local farmer found some of the gold while plowing.




From the intersection of Basswood Dr. & TN-222, Northwest of Somerville, travel West on Basswood Dr. for 1.2 mi.; turning Northwest (right) onto Old Fifty-Nine Dr., going 0.9 mi.; turning North (right) onto Bernard Rd., going 0.1 mi.; turning West (left) to this deeded African-American Cemetery, that was where descendants of the Harwell slaves were buried until the mid 20th century. Now, it is abandoned & not maintained; a thicket, overgrown with small trees, directly across the road from the Bernard Community Center, as notated on USGS topo maps.



This land was settled in the 1830s by Dr. Frederick Harwell, who eventually built it into an 1177 acre plantation. Originally from Brunswick County, Virginia, he had first settled in Giles County in Middle Tennessee, where there are many Harwells still today. Dr. Harwell and his wife, Sallie Crittendon, are buried about 100 yards northwest of the black cemetery in the middle of the field, literally in a brush pile.





During the Civil War, Dr. Harwell buried some gold on the plantation. The Northern soldiers tied his mulatto overseer, John Yarbrough, up and tried to get him to tell where the money was. Thinking they wouldn't remember where he had buried it, Dr. Harwell took some of his slave girls with him to bury the gold. Mandy Harwell Whitmore and Leticia "Tish" Harwell Bonner told their descendants stories about the gold. It wasn't until the 1940s that a local farmer found some of the gold while plowing.




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  • Added: 1 Jan 2000
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 13084