Benevolent Order No. 107, Una (Davidson County)

I grew up in south Nashville, near Haywood Lane and Una-Antioch Pike.  Imagine my surprise one day while scanning the Nashville Globe when I discovered a mention of an African American lodge in the Una community.  While I have not located where the lodge was located, I have since found several other mentions of the lodge, which I will share here.

I have blogged previously about other Benevolent lodges or cemeteries in Tennessee; this was a prolific and active group throughout the state.  I do not know when the lodge in Una was founded; the October 2, 1908 edition of the Nashville Globe states, "Benevolent Order Number 107 will dedicate its new hall on the third Sunday in October, with addresses by Grand President Swanson, Rev. Preston Taylor, J.H. Harding, B. Manier...." and a list of other officials.

Nashville Globe, October 30, 1908

The October 30, 1908 edition of the Nashville Globe contains a write-up of the grand opening under "Una Notes."  No location for the hall is given, but the article states, "The house was tastefully decorated by Mesdames Belle Cannon, Jennie Burnett, Ellen Leath, Annie Leach."

Other mentions of the lodge in the Nashville Globe throughout 1908 and 1909 mention the various entertainments and installations held at the facility.  On December 4, 1908, the paper reported that, "Quite an amusing entertainment was given by the Ladies of Benevolent Order No. 107, at their hall on Ethridge Avenue." I have not yet been able to find an Ethridge Avenue in Nashville, either on Sanborn maps from the period or on current maps.

The Benevolent Lodge No. 107 sounds like an active group, hosting a Christmas entertainment on December 29, 1908, electing officers in March 1909, and giving an entertainment in August 1909 at which Rev. C.H. Williams was the featured speaker.

Nashville Globe, December 25, 1908

Like so many other groups, this once activity community may have slowly dissipated.  It may have been struck down by the financial crises of the Great Depression.  African Americans leaving the South as part of the Great Migration may have diminished the membership.  Or it may still exist and thrive and continue to serve its purpose of creating community bonds.  I would love to know the answer one day.

Nashville Globe, March 19, 1909

Mt. Ararat Cemetery, Nashville (Davidson County)

Gate to Mt. Ararat Cemetery (photograph by author)

 
Looking out of place today amidst the industrial corridor that is the Fesslers Lane area of Nashville lies one of Nashville's oldest African American lodge cemeteries.  In April 1869, the Sons of Relief No. 1 and the Colored Benevolent Society in Nashville came together to purchase the land and create the cemetery (Bobby L. Lovett, The African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780-1930, 108).  Burials have continued since that time, and to date there are hundreds of burials in the cemetery.

Cornerstone of the stone gates installed c. 1914. (photograph by author)

The cemetery has undergone periods of neglect followed by transformation.  By the middle 1910s it was a largely overgrown, neglected burial ground.  A period of revival in the 1920s was followed by another period of neglect, and by the 1970s the cemetery was overgrown and businesses such as Purity Dairy and trucking companies encroached on the space.  In 1982 ownership of the cemetery passed to Greenwood Cemetery, an African American cemetery founded by undertaker Preston Taylor in the 1880s.  Mt. Ararat is currently owned by National Christian Missionary Convention.

View of the encroachment on the cemetery.  (photograph by author)

The creation of the cemetery by two African American lodges is not its only contribution to lodge history in Nashville.  A number of people buried in the cemetery had connections to a number of other fraternal and benevolent lodges in Nashville.  Mt. Ararat is the burial site of Nelson McGavock, first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Prince Hall Masons in the state of Tennessee.  A quick reconnaissance of the cemetery also yielded a tombstone showing the symbol of the Mosaic Templars, an African American lodge founded in Little Rock, Arkansas by ex-slaves, one of which was born in Moscow, Tennessee.

Tombstone of Nelson McGavock, Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons.

The symbol for the Mosaic Templars is located above

 the name of Lucinda Boyd.

I think Mt. Ararat is interesting also because it shows that lodges worked together to improve their communities. Places such as Mt. Ararat Cemetery I believe show the collaboration and cooperation that lodges displayed towards each other. Rather than competing for the membership and dues of the community, groups worked together to create community institutions. I also find it interesting that although Mt. Ararat has faced several threats over the years it is still an active cemetery. People continue to care for it and to find meaning in it.

The transcription for the cemetery may be found here and here.