The slave cemetery located on the property of the Drake and Seagle families is only one of two partially intact slave cemeteries in Henderson County.
It is not known for certain who owned the slaves buried in this cemetery off U.S. 64 East on St. Mary’s Chapel Road. There are no names or dates marking the burials.
The fieldstone graves are scattered along the side of a steep, wooded hill on private property owned by the Alexander Nelon Trust, a Seagle family trust. The property was owned by the Seagle family, who bought it after the Civil War.
Phillip Seagle married a daughter of Nathan Drake, an early settler in the Clear Creek community. Members of the Drake family owned the property prior to the Civil War.
The McMinn and Shipman families also owned large amounts of property in this vicinity prior to the Civil War.
The clusters of fieldstones are separated and scattered over a wide area on the side of the hill.
Downed trees, brush and briars make walking difficult along the hill. No one knows how many graves could be in the area.
At least 11 old fieldstones were located.
The stones, along with a wide expanse of periwinkle, dot the hillside in a wooded area.
The location is near an area of rapid business development. The cemetery is on the Henderson County GIS cemetery layer.