Bailey: Protecting the dead as development overtakes cemeteries
The Toll Gate Cemetery in Bartlett, shown, is maintained by Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church while the Wells Cemetery has no living relatives to care for the graves. (Michael Waddell/Special to The Daily Memphian)
Clay Bailey
Clay Bailey, a lifelong Memphian, has worked as a reporter in the city four decades. He concentrated on suburban coverage for the bulk of his career, except for a stint as sports editor of The Daily Memphian when it launched in September 2018. He now is suburban editor and also serves as a freelance sports writer for The Associated Press.
As suburban neighborhoods have spread outside the boundaries of Memphis, they have engulfed some of the land for farming, smaller communities and rural crossroads.
And small, ancient cemeteries.
This week, reporter Michael Waddell wrote about the Wells Cemetery out in Arlington, one hardly as evident as Memorial Park on Poplar Avenue, Calvary Cemetery in South Memphis or Forest Hill on Whitten Road, where tens of thousands of commuters pass daily.
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