2026 update:

“Dear Taylor Family:

    I hope this e-mail finds all of you well. Some of those who attended last year’s reunion visited the Old Taylor Cemetery in Elizabethton, on the property of Jeff Reed. Mr. Reed was nice enough to let us pass through his yard to the enclosure at the back of his property to view this hallowed ground. I would estimate some ten to twenty of our ancestors are buried there, including I believe, Joseph P. Taylor, son of General Nathaniel and Mary Taylor, and Father of Nathaniel Green Taylor. There are, additionally, numerous unmarked headstones that, I believe, recognize the remains of those persons enslaved by those in the marked graves. There are two large walnut trees standing within the cemetery with a third tree having been cut sometime ago down to the stump. One of the remaining trees is not, at this time, posing any real threat to the surrounding headstones either by falling limbs or protruding roots. However, the second tree, in the center of the cemetery, has had one large limb fall, damaging the gate to the cemetery. Other, menacing limbs remain. Further, the root system of this tree has upended one headstone, causing the obelisk atop thereof of fall and splinter in half. Several other surrounding markers are similarly askew though undamaged.

    I have been working through Mr. Reed to see what can be done, by whom and at what price, to deal with these problems. Any corrective would require workers and machinery to cross his yard, potentially exposing his property to damage. Understandably, Mr. Reed wants only someone he trusts to do this work if it is commissioned. Thus, this message.

    Last evening (3/11/26) I met Jeff Reed and Ernest Garland of Garland Tree Service at the Taylor Cemetery to discuss all relevant details. Mr. Garland is the fourth generation of tree cutters in this family business. He is pleasant, well spoken, and appears capable. Mr. Reed has had him fell multiple trees on his property over the years, with no reported incidents. (Indeed, Jeff and Ernest continued on after I left, looking at several other trees needing attention unrelated to ours.) Mr. Garland judged this project of medium to high difficulty, requiring all limbs to be “roped off” and lowered down after cutting, so to lessen the risk to the surrounding headstones. He could grind the stump and protruding roots therefrom, but could not get sufficiently close to the adjacent headstones to totally eliminate their adverse effect. The large, now titled headstone base would then be leveled, using soil, not woodchips. The obelisk would be rejoined and the resulting intact piece replaced atop the base, now leveled. All this must be preceded by four to five days of dry weather, thus to lessen the damage to Mr. Reeds yard from machinery chewing up the dampened turf. Total cost is $5,500.

    A generous family donor has already committed $2,000 to this project, if it materializes. I am willing to do my part. There is no rush to start such an endeavor as the tree is probably a hundred years old, the headstones at least that. If you are willing to participate, please let me know and in what amount. If you have questions, I will either answer them or try to get answers. While the project itself need not happen right away, it would be best if I could tell Mr. Reed and Mr. Garland, one way or another, our decision.

    I apologize for the length of this message, but felt more detail beats less on this type of thing.

    All the best and I look forward to hearing back from all those interested. John Taylor.

    PS: Mr. Reed has through this past year had his own guy maintain the interior of our cemetery. It is not right that he continue to do so without our assistance, though he made no issue of this to me. When asked, .he estimated this portion of mowing/weed eating his property to cost about $20 of the total he pays his help. If growing season is six (6) months this is approximately $250 to $300. Do I have your permission to commit us to this, at least this year? Relatedly, while desirable to help with the Isaac Taylor Cemetery that is close to Milligan College, I recommend we forego further efforts here unless and until the Foundation Treasury would suggest we can tend to more than our immediate family. Do you agree?