Could President & Mrs. Polk — Dead For More Than Century — Move To Columbia?

NASHVILLE, TN — James K. Polk, regarded by historians as one of America's busiest presidents when he was alive — having accomplished all of his campaign promises and demanding daily reports from all of his executive branch employees — has no equal when it comes to being America's busiest dead president. Polk, along with his beloved wife, Sarah, may soon be moving from the place they've been lying for more than a century.

The President and Mrs. Polk are buried on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol and have been since 1893. It is Mrs. Polk's second burial place and the President's third, but if the General Assembly gives its OK, it won't be their last.

On June 15, 1849, a little more than three months after leaving office, President James K. Polk, exhausted and likely choleric, turned to his beloved wife and spoke his last: "I love you, Sarah. For all eternity, I love you."

And then he was buried in a mass grave for cholera victims in Nashville City Cemetery. Less than a year later, the good people of Nashville perhaps realizing such a place of eternal rest wouldn't do for a former president, he was exhumed and buried in a tomb on the grounds of Polk Place at what is now Seventh Avenue and Union Street in Nashville. Mrs. Polk survived her husband 42 years — wearing mourning every day — and was buried beside him in the front yard. Then there was a fight about the will, Polk Place was sold to a developer, who tore it down to build some apartments and the Polks were carted up the street to Capitol Hill where they've been ever since.

But now, James K. Polk's hometown of Columbia wants him back.

Earlier this month, the Columbia City Council heard a presentation from the Polk Tomb Relocation Committee — which exists — along with the Polk Home Association and historians, who asserted that Polk's will expressed his wish to come home to Maury County, according to the Columbia Daily Herald.

"Why are we doing this? We are doing this to fulfill the will of James K. Polk," Brain McKelvy, chairman of the PTRC, said. "He wanted to be buried at home."

Polk's will, however, tells a different story.

"Sarah Polk, and myself, have mutually agreed with each other, that at our respective deaths, it is desired by us, that our bodies may be interred on the said premises, which I have denominated the Polk Place," the president wrote, referring to the now-demolished Polk Place, according to a copy of his will reprinted in a 1956 issue of the Tennessee Historical Quarterly.

McKelvy told the city council the process to fulfill this manifest destiny could take a year or more, citing an apparent need for approval from the Tennessee Historical Commission, the State Building Commission and the Capitol Commission, plus a go-ahead from a chancery court and the Polk heirs.

But it turns out, there's no need to submit requests to the alphabet soup of state boards, due to a 1981 state law, which reads "Notwithstanding any provision of the law or of this part to the contrary, the grave site of James K. Polk shall not be relocated unless the proposed relocation is approved in advance by a duly adopted joint resolution of the general assembly." The same law, rather bizarrely, allows the removal of the famous equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson to The Hermitage, if need be.

And that requisite resolution will be coming soon, State Sen. Joey Hensley confirmed to Patch Friday.

"We’ve had that resolution drafted and will be filing it on Tuesday of next week," he said.

President Harry Truman, one of the many latter-day admirers of the 11th President, once wrote in a letter to Dean Acheson that Polk "Said what he intended to do and did it."

And despite Columbia's assertions to the contrary, it seems he intended to stay in Nashville.

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Image via Flickr user Brent Moore, used under Creative Commons