Wheat Community Cemetery: commemorative marker detail

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Title	Wheat Community Cemetery: commemorative marker detail
Creator(s)	West, Carroll Van
Date	2007-01-12
Coverage	2000-2009
Property name	Wheat Community Cemetery
Property type	Church
Community Name	Oak Ridge, Roane County, TN
Latitude/Longitude	35.918185,-84.395222
Description	Color photograph of a gray arched marble history sign reading "Wheat Community; John Henry and Elizabeth Inman Welcker owned and operated a plantation named Laurel Banks as early as 1810 and possbily 1805. THis plantation was located along the banks of the Clinch River where the East Tennessee Technology Park (formerly the K-25) Plant now stands. John Henry died in 1838 and Elizabeth died in 1840. In 1847, George Hamilton Gallaher Sr. bought Laurel Banks. According to the 1860 Roane County Census, Geourge Gallaher Sr's personal estate was valued at $36,000. This includes $25, 000 worth of real estate and at least 19 slaves. This cemetery, now named the Wheat Community African Burial Ground, was formerlly known as Atomic Energy Commission Cemetery #2 - Slave Cemetery and was sometimes referred to as the Gallaher-Stone Cemetery. In 1979, Dorothy Moneymaker, a resident of the Wheat Community, counted between 90 and 100 graves with no inscribed markers located within the cemetery. It is presumed that slaves who once belonged to the Welckers and Gallahers and some of their descendents, who lived on other farms in the area, are buried here. Some of the other families that owned slaves and lived in the vicinity were the Burums, Carmichaels, Staples, Henleys, Ellis, and Rathers. We will never know the names of those buried here."
Historical Notes	The Wheat Community Cemetery, now the Wheat Community African Burial Ground, was formerly known as Atomic Energy Commission Cemetery #2, the Slave Cemetery, and sometimes as the Gallaher-Stone Cemetery. Dorothy Moneymaker, in 1979 counted between 90 and 100 graves with no inscribed markers. It is suspected that slaves of the former landowners and other surrounding family farms were buried here; the landowning families include: the Welckers, Gallahers, Burums, Carmichaels, Staples, Henleys, Ellis, and Rathers. John Henry and Elizabeth Inman Welcker owned and operated a plantation named Laurel Banks possibly as early as 1805, located along the banks of the Clinch Richer where the East Tennessee Technology Park (formerly the K-25) Plant now stands. In 1847, after the Welckers deaths, George Hamilton Gallaher Sr. bought the land.
Collection Name	African American Churches
Subject-LCSH	Cemeteries -- Tennessee
Subject-TGM	Churches
Type	Still image
Format	jpeg2000
Genre	Photograph
Medium	Computer disk
Copyright status	Copyright of the creator. Reproduced with permission
Conditions for use	Credit Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University Reproduction permitted for non-profit educational and research purposes only
Digital Publisher	Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
Contributing Institution	Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University
Source file	PICT0171

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Wheat Community Cemetery: commemorative marker detail

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