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Carter County in eastern Tennessee was established in 1796 from Washington County. It was the parent county, in whole or in part, of Johnson and Unicoi counties. Dianne M. Snyder created this new DVD in order to help researchers locate ancestors who are buried in Carter County. The result of eight years of field work in Tennessee graveyards, Cemeteries of Carter County, Tennessee contains two related files. The DVD includes a full-color photographic record of all tombstones examined. The photographs are arranged alphabetically by surname and thereunder by cemetery. The genealogical heart of the work may be found in Ms. Snyder’s "Index,' the electronic equivalent of a 700-page volume. It is arranged alphabetically by cemetery and thereunder by decedent, and it concludes with a complete alphabetical listing of all names found on the stones. At the close of each cemetery transcription, researchers will find a “Notes” section. While the contents vary from cemetery to cemetery, the "Notes" provide details of the author’s own ancestors, evidence of whom prefigured the author’s acceptance into the DAR, Colonial Dames XVII Century, and the Jamestowne Society.

Several other features commend this new DVD to the researcher’s attention. The DVD operates on the widely available Adobe Acrobat platform and is easy to use. Ms. Snyder explains the virtues of several finding aids for locating cemeteries in Carter County, including the use of GPS coordinates and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Geographic Names Information System. Since a number of recent burials are listed in the "Index," genealogists may be able to gather more information about those decedents from the Social Security Death Index. Finally, although the author has surveyed the overwhelming majority of cemeteries in Carter County, very large cemeteries, such as Roselawn Memorial Gardens, were beyond the scope of the project. Nonetheless, she has provided phone numbers of omitted cemeteries that will respond to queries.

All in all, this is a massive accomplishment, one that will save genealogists days of tramping around the Carter County, Tennessee, countryside in search of elusive ancestors.