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When Miss Jackson passed away, she left a portion of her land to the community as a free burial ground. What began as a generous gesture has since grown into Jackson Cemetery, now home to nearly one hundred resting places. Veterans, neighbors, and multiple generations of local families are laid to rest there, including many members of the Bohannan and Gass families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tradition of tending the cemetery spans four generations, beginning with great-grandfather Jim and continuing through Sam Gass. After Sam\u2019s passing in 2007, his daughter, Mandy Mooney, and her husband, Tom, assumed the responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTending the cemetery is something our family has always valued,\u201d Mandy explained. \u201cAfter mowing and trimming, it\u2019s meaningful to look back and know the space is peaceful for anyone visiting their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maintaining the cemetery has required both dedication and persistence. Over the years, the family has cleared litter left behind by careless visitors, replaced damaged and stolen fence posts, and repaired headstones vandalized by gunfire. For the Mooney family, the work honors those who rest there and ensures the cemetery remains a dignified place for the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mandy\u2019s personal motivation is rooted in the memory of her father. He cared for the cemetery faithfully until his unexpected passing, and allowing the grounds to become overgrown felt unthinkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe put so much effort into keeping it beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cContinuing that work felt like the right way to honor him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she and Tom married in 2012, he quickly embraced the family tradition. He has often maintained the grounds on his own, motivated by respect for her parents. Today, the couple mows and trims every two weeks during the summer, preserving the cemetery\u2019s appearance with the same care Sam once did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cemetery is only one part of a larger landscape woven into their family\u2019s identity. She grew up along the gravel road near her homeplace, where the mountains were both a playground and a teacher. Some of her most vivid memories come from walking the woods with her father. She remembers placing her feet carefully into his footprints to avoid snakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Childhood for Mandy also centered around Granny\u2019s house. She babysat all the cousins, creating a world of bike riding, rolling down steep hills, and exploring outdoors once the dew dried. Holidays were marked by tradition as well. At Halloween, family members lined the trail to the cabin with glowing pumpkins while aunts cooked chili over the fire and the men played horseshoes. These gatherings strengthened the family\u2019s connection to the land and to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After her father passed away, she and her daughter moved into the old homeplace beside her grandmother\u2019s house, allowing them precious time together before her grandmother died. Years later, her sister and niece moved into the homeplace, keeping the heart of the family close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a kind of peace in those mountains that I\u2019ve never found anywhere else,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen snow falls, everything becomes still. I used to step onto the porch at night just to take it in. It felt like time slowed down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy Grandmother Velma used to tell us there was no such thing as resting. She\u2019d laugh about how Great-grandmother Mayetta would say, \u2018Go hoe the garden while you rest,\u2019 and that was right after they\u2019d come in from working the fields. Some \u2018rest,\u2019 right?\u201d Mandy laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surrounded by a family of hard workers, Mandy recalled her father spending hours busting rocks in the yard, determined to make their home look its best. That same ethic of diligence and pride carries forward in the way she and Tom care for the cemetery today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Jackson Cemetery holds many members of her own family, people across the Cowan community come there to remember loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf families find peace there, even briefly, then every hour spent maintaining it is worthwhile,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she thinks about the future, her hope is clear: that her family will be remembered not only for tending the land but for honoring the history within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJackson Cemetery is more than a burial ground,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a symbol of our community\u2019s past \u2014 a place where stories converge. As long as we\u2019re able, we\u2019ll continue preserving it.\u201d GN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n NEAR THE historic Cumberland Tunnel, Jackson Cemetery has served the Cowan community for over a century. For four generations, the Bohannan and Gass families have maintained this small rural cemetery, preserving its grounds and honoring the history of those buried there. Their long-standing involvement began with their great-grandparents and has continued through each generation, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":24850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/franklin-county\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/4-3-1024x683.jpg\")
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