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For additional information

Hollywood Cemetery

412 South Cherry Street

Richmond, VA 23220

Phone: (804) 648-8501

www.hollywoodcemetery.org

“…John Tyler, died a traitor.”

—Richard Norton Smith

To date, no American president has been cremated, although many have been condemned to the flames of academic purgatory. One member of the fraternity, John Tyler, died a traitor. After failing to secure a peaceful settlement of sectional differences in the winter of 1860-61, Tyler, a native Virginian, followed his state into the Confederacy. His passing in January 1862, came before he took his seat in the Confederate Congress. Jefferson Davis and other high rebel officials accompanied his cortege to Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery where Davis himself would rest one day, part of a presidential trifecta that includes James Monroe, a Virginian of stauncher nationalist sympathies.

—RNS

James K. Polk

Buried: State Capitol, Nashville, Tennessee

Eleventh President - 1845-1849

Born: November 2, 1795, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Died: June 15, 1849, in Nashville, Tennessee

Age at death: 53

Cause of death: Undetermined, possibly cholera

Final words: “I love you, Sarah, for all eternity,

I love you.”

Admission to State Capitol: Free

Despite being one of the younger presidents, Democrat James Polk was eager to fulfill his promise to retire at the end of his first term. A workaholic, he spent much of his presidency consumed by the war with Mexico. He wrote in his diary of the prospect, “I am sure I shall be a happier man in my retirement than I have been during the four years I have filled the highest office in the gift of my countrymen.”

Polk purchased a Nashville home, which he dubbed Polk Place and set about organizing his political papers and remodeling the home to his tastes. He had been retired from the presidency for only three months when he went on a tour of the southern states. He made the mistake of stopping in New Orleans, where a cholera epidemic had recently broken out. Polk became sick shortly thereafter. He quickly grew weaker and died on June 15, 1849, at the age of fifty-three. The prevailing feeling at the time was that the arduous duties of the presidency may have weakened Polk’s constitution, leaving him vulnerable to infection and unable to fight off the disease.

James Polk was immediately buried in a common cemetery with thirty-two other victims of the cholera epidemic. Local officials believed that the quick disposal of bodies would prevent spread of the disease. Polk was later given the honors accorded a former president and was laid to rest at Polk Place.

Polk’s wife Sarah lived at Polk Place for forty-two more years. A proper Victorian widow, she wore black the entire time. When she died in 1891, she was buried alongside him. Despite Polk’s specific instructions that their home should be given to the state of Tennessee, Polk Place was demolished after Sarah’s death. The bodies of James and Sarah Polk were moved to the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville in 1893.

Polk’s third and final resting place

Touring James K. Polk’s Tomb at the Tennessee State Capitol

James K. Polk’s grave is located on the grounds of the state capitol building in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The capitol is open 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The grounds are also open on weekends. Limited street parking is available in the area. There is no admission fee.

From I-40: Exit on Broadway (exit 209A from I-40W; exit 209B from I-40E), going toward downtown. Turn left on Fifth Avenue and go three blocks. The museum is on the left between Union and Deaderick Streets.

Sarah Polk, who lived forty-two years after her husband’s death, was buried beside him in 1891. The bodies of James and Sarah Polk were moved to the state capitol grounds two years later.

For additional information

Tennessee State Capitol

Charlotte Avenue and 7th Avenue, North

Nashville, TN 37243

Phone: (615) 741-2692

www.tnmuseum.org

“On his deathbed, Polk