u/TheOneCalledGump

The ‘Rock’, also called Suicide Rock and Ivy Rock, has marked a grave that was fraught with spooky legends and mistaken identity. It’s only been a little over a decade since the true story emerged!

The legend of this rock started with tales of a young woman’s untimely death, and her lover moving heaven and literal earth to leave a stone to mark her grave. For decades folks believed that a quarrel led to a suicide, and that the rock and the lantern (hung from the frame but removed by the cemetery a few years ago for safe keeping) would lead the soul back to where it belonged. Other stories included a women’s accidental drowning or a carriage accident where the bride died on the way to the chapel. None of these stories were true.

And neither was the name attributed to The Rock – one Anne Rawlings Sanders. Anne is actually buried near the rock in a box tomb (you can see it to the right in the photo) but records became a bit muddied over time. It didn’t help that the rock was covered in ivy which obscured the name carved into the stone. Hence the ‘Ivy Rock’ title in some stories.

In 2013 it was officially announced that the person buried under the rock was Lucy Rawlings Steele, possible sister to Anne, and a small stone bearing her information was placed nearby. Lucy died of consumption, and her husband Edward had the stone and lantern placed there shortly after.

𝕃𝕦𝕔𝕪 ℝ𝕒𝕨𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕖
𝔻𝕚𝕖𝕕 𝕄𝕒𝕪, 4 1847
ℝ𝕆ℂ𝕂 ℙ𝕃𝔸ℂ𝔼𝔻 𝕆𝕍𝔼ℝ ℍ𝔼ℝ 𝔾ℝ𝔸𝕍𝔼 𝔹𝕐 ℍ𝔼ℝ ℍ𝕌𝕊𝔹𝔸ℕ𝔻 𝔼𝔻𝕎𝔸ℝ𝔻 𝔾. 𝕊𝕋𝔼𝔼𝕃𝔼

Lucy’s husband moved from Nashville a few years after her death so that could account for how her name was lost for so long…

https://southerncemetery.com/2025/10/17/unusual-cemetery-tales-from-around-the-south/

https://nashvillehistoricalnewsletter.com/2022/01/20/the-true-history-of-the-ivy-rock/

I wish it would have sat still to get a picture of the amazing wings. When they hatch they have typical wings with solid wings, then at some point, they shed them.