Tent Graves or Comb Graves as they are sometimes called are a fascinating site to see. The purpose of the tent-shape covering was to keep animals from getting into the graves. In the 19th century, the deceased were buried in much shallower plots, so the covering was needed to avoid tampering by animals or grave robbers. These folk style grave coverings, called tent or comb graves, are found primarily in Tennessee, but examples have been found in Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia.
“Comb Grave” is a burial that features a grave cover made, normally, of two rectangular slabs of stone leaned together to form a gable roof over the grave. The term “comb” signifies “the crest or ridge of a roof”. Combs have also been likened to pup tents and persons unfamiliar with the term “comb grave” commonly call them “tent graves”. However, comb grave is thought to be the traditional name for this vernacular type of grave cover, and its essential form is that of a gable roof set directly on the grave, with no supporting walls. The above-ground space beneath the “roof” is normally empty, not filled. Most comb graves feature a headstone that is separate from the comb structure, and some feature both head and footstones. These head and footstones typically are of the same local stone as the comb; this is especially true of the older comb graves. However, it is not rare for the headstone to be of marble or other non-local “store-bought” stone. Some combs, especially in the older comb cemeteries, are “headless”. Many of these headless combs have no inscriptions, making it difficult to know who is covered by the comb or when the burial occurred. However, some headless combs have inscriptions on one side slab and a few have inscriptions on one of the gable-end stones. Comb graves are known to be present in eight other Southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and North Carolina). A few comb graves have also been found in eastern Oklahoma and southernmost Missouri, areas that are culturally part of the Upland South. However, Tennessee has more known comb cemeteries and comb graves than all the other states combined. Additionally, the oldest known combs are found in Tennessee graveyards.
A variety of ideas have been suggested to account for the “why” of combs, i.e., the purpose served by placing a comb over a grave. Protecting the grave seems to have been a motive, but there is no definitive single reason for combs. It is likely that different reasons motivated different people to erect combs, but that ultimately the comb became a highly popular style, indeed the dominant grave style in numerous small graveyards within the comb range. And style alone was probably sufficient reason for many. Of the other various well-known types of grave covers (ledger stones, box graves, stone table markers, gravehouses, coffin graves, and cairn graves) within the main comb range, none were used in numbers comparable to the comb graves.
That was interesting !