Great Grandmothers Grave site
Josephine Gurley Bryant
Hollywood Cemetery Jackson Tennessee
Interesting History of the Cemetery
On December 23, 1886, a group that had six days earlier incorporated as Hollywood Cemetery purchased fifty acres from Robert A. Hurt for $3,000. Nearly 100 people were buried at Hollywood prior to the turn of the century, including nine whose markers show death dates prior to the cemetery’s founding, and who were moved to Hollywood from various other burial grounds. Founded during the post-Reconstruction era segregationist movement, Hollywood Cemetery was established within a year of Jackson’s African-American cemetery, Mt. Olivet. New cemetery plot buyers in the respective ethnic groups (Hollywood for whites and Mt. Olivet for blacks) were attracted to the new, racially exclusive burial grounds rather than the older, integrated Riverside Cemetery. Hollywood’s modern layout allured upper and middle class patrons interested in following the newest graveyard design trends. Hollywood’s location near the outer edge of one of the first street car suburbs of Jackson is significant because it exemplifies the period between Reconstruction and World War I when the population of many southern towns expanded due to industrial growth, pushing city limits and residential neighborhoods to the fringe areas rimming the core urban area. With the expansion, new cemeteries were needed and typically located on the outskirts of the newly developed communities. Hollywood served the new upper middle-class, white-collar segment that primarily occupied the suburban area and reflects their new tastes in cemetery design and art.
