HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For many people, their final resting place is a cemetery.
But what happens when the people who own that property also pass away?
It's a dilemma right now in Hendersonville, and it's impacting a family with longstanding roots in the area.
"It is out here by itself in the middle of a subdivision, completely surrounded by homes," said Jimmy Batten, a Hendersonville resident who's married to a descendant of the Saunders family.
I met Batten at the Saunders family cemetery in Hendersonville.
It sits on land surrounded by houses, and can only be accessed through an easement on one of the surrounding properties.
"Hubbard Saunders is my wife's great-great-great-grandfather," Batten said.
According to Batten, Hubbard's son is the person Saundersville was named for, and at one point, the family owned 2,000 acres in Middle Tennessee.
When members of the Saunders family were laid to rest more than 100 years ago, they couldn't have known how much the world would change around this cemetery.
The Hendersonville mayor said the deeds for the land are so old, potentially issued even before Tennessee was a state, that now no one technically owns the cemetery.
Because of that, no one is officially responsible for taking care of it.
It had gotten overgrown until the Saunders family descendants started caring for it.
"My wife's uncle Joe Saunders took total control of this," Batten said.
After that, other family members stepped in, but a storm this spring brought down many trees.
That got Batten and many aging Saunders descendants worried about who'd be taking care of this place in the years to come.
According to Hendersonville's Mayor Jamie Clary, the Saunders plot is the largest and most historic of about six unowned final resting places in the city.
That status is creating a bit of a dilemma.
"The maintenance of those unowned cemeteries really comes down to somebody's goodness and how close it might be to their house," said Hendersonville Mayor Jamie Clary.
So he's planning to work with the city to try to come up plan to maintain these places long term.
“Maybe we have a public works employee take care of them periodically, not weekly, not monthly, or maybe we pay somebody to go out to all these cemeteries and take care of them maybe quarterly,” Clary said.
For the city, it's a way to make sure the houses near the cemetery keep their value.
"Preserving the property values for the people who live nearby — that's what we're trying to do,” Clary said.
For members of the Saunders family, they're hoping to see their history preserved for generations to come.
“It just means a lot that this place would basically stay in the appearance that it is right now for another 200 years,” Batten said.
Beyond some potential help from the public works department, Mayor Clary said he's looking for volunteers like scout groups or other non-profits to help as well.
Click here for information on how to get in touch with the city of Hendersonville.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
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