Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainHistoric cemetery of Tennessee's oldest town contains a ground-penetrating radar-confirmed 1873 cholera mass grave and hosts an annual play performed among the headstones
East Woodrow Avenue, Jonesborough, TN 37659
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public access; October theatrical event tickets sold separately
Access
Limited Access
Grassy hillside cemetery with uneven terrain and old headstones; limited accessibility
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1779 · Municipal cemetery of Tennessee's oldest incorporated town · Ground-penetrating radar-confirmed 1873 cholera mass grave · Approximately 35 cholera deaths within one month in 1873 · 15–20 individuals identified in mass grave by GPR survey
Jonesborough was incorporated in 1779—seventeen years before Tennessee statehood—making it the oldest town in the state. The municipal cemetery reflects that age, with grave markers spanning nearly two and a half centuries and representing generations of the region's founding families and later settlers.
In the summer of 1873, a cholera epidemic swept through Washington County and hit Jonesborough hard. The disease killed approximately 35 residents within about one month, an extraordinary mortality rate for a small town. Those who died during the height of the outbreak were interred in a mass grave, a common emergency measure when deaths outpaced normal burial capacity. The mass grave's existence was oral tradition for over a century.
In recent years, researchers used ground-penetrating radar to survey the cemetery, and the technology confirmed the mass grave and identified an estimated 15 to 20 individual burials within it. The confirmation moved the story from local tradition to documented fact, backed by physical evidence. The Town of Jonesborough's official website has referenced the cemetery and its haunting stories as part of the town's heritage tourism identity.
Sources
The discovery of the 1873 cholera mass grave gave Jonesborough's cemetery community a concrete anchor for its ghost stories: the rapid deaths of dozens of people, buried together under circumstances that bypassed normal funerary tradition, are exactly the conditions that dark tourism folklore has always associated with unquiet resting grounds.
Local accounts collected by paranormal enthusiasts describe cold zones near the confirmed mass grave location, unexplained orbs photographed among the older headstones, and a general heaviness in the cemetery's oldest section. The October theatrical event 'A Spot on the Hill,' in which costumed actors portray Jonesborough's buried residents and deliver their life stories from among the graves at dusk, transforms the cemetery into an immersive performance space—one that uses documented history rather than invented haunted-house mechanics.
Jonesborough's historic municipal cemetery contains burials dating to the earliest years of the 1779 town. The recently confirmed cholera mass grave from 1873—identified by ground-penetrating radar—holds an estimated 15 to 20 individuals who died during a one-month epidemic.
Each October, Jonesborough stages 'A Spot on the Hill,' an outdoor theatrical production performed among the headstones of the historic cemetery. Actors portray the buried residents; the performance runs at dusk.
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