Andrew Johnson National Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, National Park Service

Hasty, David

Andrew Johnson National Cemetery was established in 1906 on a hilly tract of land outside Greeneville, TN. It included the gravesite of Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, and a small burial ground for his immediate family. The burial ground had been willed to the federal government by Johnson’s daughter, Margaret Johnson Patterson, in 1901 for use as a public park in commemoration of the former president. The National Cemetery was administered by the War Department until 1942, when it was designated a National Monument and transferred to the NPS. The cultural landscape includes historic features from the two periods of significance associated first with the use of the land by the Johnson family as a burial ground and the establishment and later the development of the National Cemetery by the War Department. During the first period of significance (Johnson Family Burial Ground, 1875‑1906) monuments were erected within and around an elaborate cast‑iron fence. Contributing features from this time period, including the Andrew Johnson Monument (1878), are present today. Most of the remaining historic features date to the second period of significance (War Department era, 1906‑1942), which encompasses the development of the National Cemetery landscape under the War Department. This period is reflected by the presence of features associated with the original War Department design, including buildings and structures (cemetery wall and gate, lodge, stable, rostrum), roads (Monument Drive, Service Road), the original nine grave sections, walkways, flagstaff, and drainage features. The World War I Machine Gun Monument (1931) also dates to this era. Individual features and their arrangement across the landscape convey a clear connection with the two periods of significance. The purpose of this cemetery as it was so designated in 1906 – to honor the veterans of our armed forces and commemorate the seventeenth president – has not been altered. When NPS policy put an end to burials in the National Cemetery in 1942, public outcry was so persistent that officials overturned the policy and the original site mission to preserve the cemetery as it was at the end of the War Department era in 1942 was compromised with the mission to maximize burial space within the cemetery. After the burial of Johnson in 1875, the gravesite grew into a small family plot with the Johnson Monument as its nexus. Through its architecture and arrangement the Johnson family plot conveys characteristics of the rural cemetery movement and the romantic ideals that characterized American funerary architecture in the late Victorian era. The rural cemetery movement began in 1831 and went on to forge a new class of cemetery. Skilled architects were employed in the designs that were characterized by their location on the outskirts of cities and the presence of winding pathways, vistas and architecture that fostered a contemplative atmosphere. The Johnson family burial ground conveys the defining characteristics of the movement. The family plot was established at an elevated site on the outskirts of town with expansive views. A winding road provided the ascent to the gravesite typical in rural cemetery designs for fostering an appreciation of the setting. When the War Department began their transformation of the landscape in 1906, and retained these features. After the transfer of the family plot from Johnson’s heir to the federal government, the War Department took steps to begin the transformation of the landscape into a traditional national cemetery in 1908. Andrew Johnson National Cemetery was developed following design standards established under General Montgomery C. Meigs in the 1870s. The General Development Plan of 1908 included the layout of the cemetery lodge, cemetery roads, memorial approach and walkways, flagstaff, stable, nine grave sections, cemetery wall and gate, drainage features, and the cemetery rostrum.

Andrew Johnson National Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, National Park Service

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