Myrtle Hill Cemetery
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Myrtle Hill Cemetery
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| Location | South Broad and Myrtle Sts. Rome, Georgia |
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| Coordinates | 34°15′6.84″N 85°10′45.12″W / 34.2519000°N 85.1792000°WCoordinates: 34°15′6.84″N 85°10′45.12″W / 34.2519000°N 85.1792000°W |
| Built | 1857 |
| Architect | Cunningham M. Pennington |
| Architectural style | Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 83000196 |
| Added to NRHP | September 1, 1983 |
Myrtle Hill Cemetery is the second oldest cemetery in the city of Rome, Georgia. The cemetery is at the confluence of the Etowah River and Oostanaula River and to the south of downtown Rome across the South Broad Street bridge.
Three of Rome's seven hills were chosen as burial grounds - Lumpkin Hill, Myrtle Hill, and Mount Aventine because of the flooding of Rome’s three rivers - Etowah, Oostanaula and Coosa. Myrtle Hill was named for its Vinca minor (trailing myrtle) on the hill. The cemetery covers 32 acres (130,000 m2) on 6 terraces and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Myrtle Hill cemetery is the final resting place of more than 20,000 people including doctors, politicians, football heroes, soldiers including America's Known Soldier, a First Lady of the United States, and Rome's founders.
"Where Romans Rest" is an annual tour of Myrtle Hill Cemetery, given by the Greater Rome Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Before becoming a cemetery, the hill gained notability as an 18th-century battle site. In September 1793, General John Sevier, in command of 800 men, came to the area on an unauthorized mission. Sevier was pursuing 1,000 Cherokees who had scalped and killed thirteen settlers at Cavett's Station, near Knoxville. The pursuit ended in Georgia, when Sevier caught up with the Cherokee at the village of what he called Hightower (Etowah, or Itawayi), which is near the present-day site of Cartersville, Georgia. The Cherokee created a defensive position on Myrtle Hill and used a guard to try to prevent Sevier from fording the rivers.
Sevier left a written account of the battle, in which he described an attempt to cross the Etowah River about a mile south of Myrtle Hill, drawing the Cherokee defenders out of their prepared positions, then galloping back to Myrtle Hill to cross there. The Cherokee rushed back to contest the crossing of the Etowah, but failed. When the Cherokee leader, Kingfisher, was killed, the remaining warriors fled, and Sevier burned the village.
Evidence of the battle was found in the form of Cherokee bones and relics in the crevasses of the hill. In 1901, the Xavier chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a stone monument to Sevier which describes the battle to honor Sevier and the battle. The monument is located between Myrtle Hill Cemetery and the Etowah River by the South Broad Street bridge.
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