The Upper Cumberland State Veterans Cemetery Association received an estimated $7.5 million in federal funds Tuesday to build a regional veterans cemetery in White County.
Chairman Donna Fare said the cemetery will be constructed on an estimated 127-acre property on Country Club Road, just east of downtown Sparta. Fare said the association is excited to finally bring a veterans cemetery to the region.
“It will be just a great asset to the community and to our veteran population because, currently, if a veteran in our area would like to be buried in a veteran cemetery, the closest is Nashville, but it’s on the West side of Nashville,” Fare said.
Fare said the association has been working to provide a regional veterans cemetery since 2013. Fare said previous attempts were unsuccessful, but this time around, the project was awarded as the pool of funding increased this year.
“In the past, we’ve always been ranked for a cemetery in the Upper Cumberland, but we were ranked pretty low,” Fare said. “And as the years went by, our ranking increased, but the funding for cemeteries in the state did not increase. And so there were a lot of states that had a higher priority for either an establishment or expanding a current cemetery. And so this year, there was extra funding put into the VA, and part of that was targeted to develop cemeteries and expand some of the existing cemeteries.”
Fare said the cemetery will also have an administrative building, a maintenance building, and an enclosed chapel so services can be held at the cemetery. Fare said the funding will go a long way.
“It may not get everything that is wanted in the cemetery right now, but there are opportunities in the future that we can apply for more grants to expand or develop a little more at the veterans cemetery,” Fare said. “So we hope $7.5 million will at least give us a really good start in getting this cemetery built.”
Fare said a timeline of when the cemetery will be constructed is unclear at this time, as the project has to be approved by the state since it will be built on state property and maintained by the state. Fare said so many people helped get the project to this point.
“I think it’s been a great accomplishment for all the people behind the scenes who have been working on getting the cemetery funding for this area,” Fare said. “And I just want to reach out a big thank you to all the veterans and families, and our local, state, and national legislators who have also been working behind the scenes to get funding to build this cemetery.”