Old Baker's Forge Cemetery, TVA Disinterment Cemetery #240 took it's name from the Baker Iron Works located across the Sugar Hollow Branch near the mouth of Sugar Hollow. The Baker Iron Works, dating to at the least the early 1800s, was probably Campbell County's first industry.

Baker's Forge Memorial Cemetery, TVA re-internment Cemetery # R-4 takes it's name from the Old Baker's Forge Cemetery. Many of those, but not all who were buried there were re-interned at Baker's Forge Memorial. George Ridenour, who supervised the re-internments grew up just up the hollow from the old cemetery. Obviously he took the name Baker's Forge with him.

The Old Baker's Forge Cemetery straddles the shore of Norris Reservoir when the lake is full. Not everyone buried there was re-interned. Some graves remain underwater and some above water where they all await the coming of our Lord. The Old Baker's Forge Cemetery has not been maintained since the establishment of Baker's Forge Memorial in 1934.

Among the families that buried their dead here were the Baker, Boshears, Chapman, Ford, Grant, Gray, Hatmaker, Heatherly, Housley, Jones, Malicotte, Miller, Nelson, Powell, Rains, Ridenour, Roach, Shoffner, Stout, Willoughby, Wilson, and Wyrick.

In the spring of 2010, I had the opportunity to explore the Old Baker's Forge Cemetery with Heatherly cousins, Peggy Kosher, Carolyn Murrell, Carolyn's husband, Ed Murrell, and Robert Morton - a Boshears descendant. We left, by boat, from the Sugar Hollow Boat Dock. I wasn't sure that we were going to land in the right place. Weren't the pilgrims originally headed for Virginia before landing at Plymouth Rock in what is now Massachusetts? I had consulted relatives who had been there and TVA maps, but was still unsure of myself.

We landed right in the cemetery. Daylilies were coming up at the shoreline. Nearby we found myrtle (also known as periwinkle) and before long we came upon Narcissus in bloom. I was not at all surprised to discover so many beautiful flowers flourishing over three quarters of a century after the re internments. Years ago, back before lawn mowers were common, myrtle was used as a ground cover in cemeteries. I was on the look out for it as we neared the shore. I knew if we sighted myrtle we would have found the cemetery. Old cemeteries that have not been over-mowed often offer a wealth of flowers planted many years ago - a living memorial to those interned there, as well as to their loved ones who planted them.

Scattered among the holes left by the dis-interments, were the graves of those left behind. Some were marked with field-stones, a few field stones were inscribed with crudely scraped initials, but Carolyn found one grave with a complete name and birth date-Gladis Miller B. May 2, 1904 D. Sep outlined by straight lines that form a box.