North Shore decoration days continue

Hellen Wadman

Bone Valley. Bradshaw. Higdon. Proctor. Hall. These are just a few of the names that grace more than 20 cemeteries in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that are only accessible by boat. Today, pilgrims from this region and from all over the country are transported to these special burial sites — […]

Pilgrims board Miss Hazel, a pontoon boat named for Hazel Creek that ferries passengers across Fontana Lake to visit more than 20 cemeteries in the southwestern portion of the park for decoration day rituals.

Bone Valley. Bradshaw. Higdon. Proctor. Hall. These are just a few of the names that grace more than 20 cemeteries in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that are only accessible by boat. Today, pilgrims from this region and from all over the country are transported to these special burial sites — some extremely remote — through a partnership unlike any other. 

“We began decorations to the cemeteries on the north side of Fontana Lake in 1978 and still continue today,” said Lee Vance Woods, a key organizer of the North Shore decoration days. “This is thanks to Great Smoky Mountain National Park staff who provide us with transportation to each cemetery.” 

How and why did this unique transportation partnership for pilgrims begin?

After nearly three decades of lapsed decorations, the park made a commitment in the late 1970s to support these visits across Fontana Lake, which was formed in 1944 when the Little Tennessee River was dammed by the Tennessee Valley Authority, forcing more than a thousand families to relocate.

Back in the 1930s, more than a thousand families had to relocate before the Little Tennessee River was dammed by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1944. Forced from the North Shore of Fontana Lake, they also left behind their family burial grounds, often located close to their homes. For a time, the lake’s creation made it impossible to continue the sacred ritual of decoration days — when people gathered together to clean and tidy the cemeteries, bring flowers to decorate the graves of their ancestors, and offer up a prayer before a family-style dinner.

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A feast is enjoyed after every decoration day, for pilgrims and park staff alike.

To continue their tradition, families needed access to boats. To reach some of the farther-flung burial sites, they also needed to be transported in vehicles for several miles.

Woods’ mother, Helen Cable Vance, worked with other families to form the North Shore Cemetery Association to partner with the park to provide regular access to these remote cemeteries. After nearly three decades of lapsed decorations, the park made a commitment in the late 1970s to support these visits.

Helen Cable Vance stands in the Cable Cemetery. Vance and her sister Mildred founded the North Shore Cemetery Association in 1976 to help preserve the family histories of the Hazel Creek area.

Today, between April and November each year, pilgrims are ferried by pontoon boat across Fontana Lake to Hazel Creek. Writer Courtney Lix took the trip for a story that appears in the Spring 2019 issue of Smokies Life journal.

“Stepping off the boat, we’re greeted by a park service crew with passenger vans,” she wrote. “We slowly bump along the muddy road and make our way deeper into the mountains. … The cemetery is tidy, thanks to the work of the park service crew. The gravestones — often referred to as monuments — are upright and well maintained.”

When descendants were able to return to the North Shore cemeteries after more than 30 years, some were so overgrown their monuments had to be reclaimed from the brush.

This year’s reunions have been particularly poignant as, with a pandemic waning, descendants are once again able to gather in large numbers for traditional services and to share the stories of the people who once made their homes in the mountains. 

“Of course, we missed 2020 because of COVID and were only able to complete some of the cemeteries last year as restrictions changed,” said Karen Marcus of Maggie Valley, North Carolina, an active member of the North Shore Cemetery Association. “Decoration is an opportunity to carry on a tradition that was started by our ancestors. For them, it was a time to care for the cemetery and to have contact with relatives and neighbors.”

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