Cemeteries Relocated by TVA

To carry out its mission in the Tennessee Valley, TVA had to alter the landscape. The agency’s major construction projects required relocating roads and utility lines, as well as inundating many acres of countryside. As an extension of these construction projects, TVA undertook the difficult and delicate task of relocating thousands of graves.

Surveys were conducted of all cemeteries in the project areas. Beginning in 1933, more than 69,000 graves were investigated, and over 20,000 graves were relocated. TVA moved the graves from areas that were to be flooded and from isolated sites to comparable burial places nearby.

The removal was done in accordance with state law and the wishes of the next of kin. In addition to relocating the graves, TVA cleaned, repaired, and reset monuments and headstones at the reinterment sites.

TVA's Cemetery Relocation Database

After completing removal operations, TVA mapped the reinterment cemeteries, assigning each cemetery and grave a number. It is from these records that the cemetery relocation database was created.

The database contains the following information for each individual, if known:

First and last names
Birth and death dates
TVA project name
State and county
Original cemetery and grave number
Year the grave was relocated
New cemetery name, number, and grave number.

View the cemetery database:

PDF format

Excel format

Original documentation

All original records relating to TVA’s Cemetery Relocation Program, including permits, removal orders, grave inventory sheets, maps, and field notes, are now housed at the National Archives, Southeast Region. To view this documentation, please contact:

National Archives
5780 Jonesboro Rd.
Morrow, GA 30260
770-968-2100
Fax: 770-968-2547
E-mail: atlanta.archives@nara.gov.