Township 11 South, Range 3 East, Section 21

Location: Just off Highway 278, right before the Etowah County line. Turn on a dirt road which runs East of a chicken house and West of a small farm house. The land on which the cemetery lies is adjacent to the surrounding land owned by the couple who live in the farm house. The cemetery is generally well kept except for the far Eastern side which contains some marked graves and several unmarked graves. That side is overgrown.

From page 34 of the 1999 Heritage of Blount County book: "The name is taken from a William Byrd who was granted 80 acres of land from the United States in 1854...The evidence indicates that the site now referred to as the Byrd Cemetery was in use as a burial ground as far back as 1818...The records show that a few yards north of the graveyard there was a building, probably log. The building is referred to as the 'Meeting House,' with a road leading to the graveyard...There are over one hundred graves with identifiable markers. More than fifty are simply marked with a block headstone. In the northeast corner there are a number of blacks buried. Several of these individuals are known to have migrated from Georgia prior to the civil war. Also known to be buried here are individuals of Cherokee Ancestry..."

(© 2003 - 2006 Robin Sterling)