Wheat Community African Burial Ground
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Wheat Community African Burial Ground

Roane County, Tennessee, USA

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THIS CEMETERY AND MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THESE AFRICANS WHO WERE IN AMERICA IN BONDAGE, RATHER THAN BY CHOICE AND LIVED, WORKED AND DIED IN BONDAGE IN THE WHEAT COMMUNITY

John Henry and Elizabeth Inman Welcker owned and operated a plantation named Laurel Banks as early as 1810 and possibly 1805. This plantation waas 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 John Hamilton Gallaher Sr. bought Laurel Banks. According to the 1860 Roane County Census, George Gallaher, Sr.'s estate was valued at $36,000. This included $25,000 worth of land and at least 19 slaves. This cemetery, now named the Wheat Community African Burial Ground, was formerly 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 descendants are buried here. It is also possible that slaves and their descendants 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

On short gravel road a few yards east of OakRidge Turnpike (TN 58) .
The gravel road is 0.3 miles north of the north end of TN 58 bridge across the Clinch River OR 4.2 miles north of I-40 on Gallaher Rd




THIS CEMETERY AND MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THESE AFRICANS WHO WERE IN AMERICA IN BONDAGE, RATHER THAN BY CHOICE AND LIVED, WORKED AND DIED IN BONDAGE IN THE WHEAT COMMUNITY

John Henry and Elizabeth Inman Welcker owned and operated a plantation named Laurel Banks as early as 1810 and possibly 1805. This plantation waas 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 John Hamilton Gallaher Sr. bought Laurel Banks. According to the 1860 Roane County Census, George Gallaher, Sr.'s estate was valued at $36,000. This included $25,000 worth of land and at least 19 slaves. This cemetery, now named the Wheat Community African Burial Ground, was formerly 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 descendants are buried here. It is also possible that slaves and their descendants 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

On short gravel road a few yards east of OakRidge Turnpike (TN 58) .
The gravel road is 0.3 miles north of the north end of TN 58 bridge across the Clinch River OR 4.2 miles north of I-40 on Gallaher Rd




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  • Added: 2 May 2020
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2705554