Maple Hill Cemetery (Huntsville, Alabama)

Maple Hill Cemetery.

Maple Hill Cemetery is the oldest and largest cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama. Founded on two acres (8,000 m²) in about the year 1822, it now encompasses nearly 100 acres (400,000 m²) and contains over 80,000 burials. Designated a historic landmark by the Alabama Historical Association in 1962, its occupants include five governors of Alabama, five United States senators, and numerous other figures of local, state, and national note. It is located east of the Twickenham Historic District.

History

The original two acres (8,000 m²) of the cemetery were sold to the city of Huntsville on September 14, 1822 by planter LeRoy Pope. Though early burials are difficult to document, there is substantial evidence that the land had been in use as a cemetery for some time prior to its official establishment. The oldest grave with marker intact is that of Mary Frances Atwood, infant daughter of William and Martha Caroline Atwood, who died September 17, 1820. Headstones are sparse in the oldest section, many having decayed over time and been discarded, and it is likely that many unmarked graves share a similarly early date.

The cemetery was expanded at some point after 1849 to include the two acres (8,000 m²) on which LeRoy Pope and his family were buried. There are some indications that this land, which had until then remained a part of the Pope estate, may already have been in use as a burial ground. Pope's son-in-law John Williams Walker had died in 1823, Pope's wife Judith in 1827, and Pope himself in 1844. It is known that the Popes maintained a private cemetery on their plantation, but it is unclear whether the Pope graves were moved to their present location following the sale of the Pope estate in 1849, or whether this property in fact contained the existing Pope cemetery. Several other monuments in this section suggest its use at least as early as 1844.^[1]

During the Civil War, Maple Hill Cemetery became the burial site of 187 unknown Confederate soldiers and an uncertain number of Union soldiers. Most of the Confederate soldiers, buried in the Confederate section on the north side of the cemetery, died early in the war of disease or accidents while training in camps close to Huntsville. Numerous Union troops who died during the federal occupation of Huntsville are believed to have been buried in unmarked graves throughout the oldest section of the cemetery. Most of these graves were apparently moved to Chattanooga National Cemetery in 1867.^[2]

In 1873, the cemetery was further expanded through the purchase from James J. Donegan of 12.45 acres (50,380 m²) that had previously been a part of the Pope estate. In this new addition were two sections consecrated for religious congregations, a Hebrew burial ground and a Catholic burial ground.

To accommodate increasing growth in Huntsville because of industrialization, the city purchased an additional 3.2 acres (13,000 m²) in 1881 from Morris and Henrietta Bernstein. In 1903, it purchased another 6.14 acres (24,800 m²) from Mary Y. McClelland of St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1901, the cemetery, which had until then been called only "the burying ground," was given its official name.

Automobile magnate Albert Russel Erskine made a substantial gift to cemetery in 1918 of about 12 acres (49,000 m²). Erskine, a descendant of several prominent Huntsvillians buried in the cemetery, had acquired the land from a neighboring residential development, probably prompted by the death of his mother in 1915. On a circular plot in the center of the addition, Erskine constructed an imposing mausoleum to contain the remains of his parents, his wife, and himself. The cemetery's stone entranceway and the wide road proceeding from it to the mausoleum were also funded by Erskine. Three additional properties, purchased in 1920, completed the Erskine Addition.

The purchase from James B. Stevens in 1924 of 59 acres (240,000 m²) on the east of the cemetery more than tripled its size and gave it its present shape.^[3]

In 1987, a private company, Maple Hill Cemetery, Inc., developed a cemetery adjacent to the cemetery proper on land formerly used by the city of Huntsville for athletic fields.

In 2007, the city owned part of the cemetery had virtually run out of available plots and attempted to enlarge the cemetery by first removing playground equipment and picnic tables of an adjoining city park with a plan to create burial plots on the park land. This was met with extreme resistance from residents in nearby neighborhoods. The public outcry of city actions without the proper due process was enough to stop the encroachment into the park and neighborhoods.

The Huntsville Meridian

The Huntsville Meridian intersects Maple Hill Cemetery. Plotted in 1807 by surveyor Thomas Freeman, it is the longitudinal line from which all land in North Alabama was surveyed. The tallest monument in the cemetery was erected on the meridian by another surveyor, Richard W. Anderson, "in memory of deceased relatives and to perpetuate the Huntsville Meridian."

Notable burials

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Governors of Alabama

• Thomas Bibb (1782–1839), served 1820 to 1821.
• Clement Comer Clay (1789–1866), served 1835 to 1837; formerly a U.S. representative; later a U.S. senator.
• Reuben Chapman (1799–1882), served 1847 to 1849; formerly a U.S. representative.
• Robert M. Patton (1809–1885), served 1865 to 1868.
• David P. Lewis (1820–1884), served 1872 to 1874.

United States senators

• John Williams Walker (1783–1823), Alabama's first senator, served 1819 to 1822.
• Clement Comer Clay (1789–1866), served 1837 to 1841; formerly a governor and U.S. representative.
• Jeremiah Clemens (1814–1865), served 1849 to 1853.
• Clement Claiborne Clay (1816–1882), served 1853 to 1861; later a Confederate States senator.
• John J. Sparkman (1899–1985), served 1949 to 1979.

United States representatives

• Clement Comer Clay (1789–1866), served 1829 to 1835; later a governor and U.S. senator.
• Reuben Chapman (1799–1882), served 1835 to 1847; later a governor.
• Peter Myndert Dox (1813–1891), served 1869 to 1873.
• Joseph Humphrey Sloss (1826–1911), served 1871 to 1875.
• William Willis Garth (1828–1912), served 1877 to 1879.
• William M. Lowe (1842–1882), served 1879 to 1881 and 1882.
• William N. Richardson (1839–1914), served 1900 to 1914.
• Jabez Leftwich (1765–1855), served the state of Virginia 1821 to 1825.
• Addison White (1824–1909), served the state of Kentucky 1851 to 1853.
• Lowndes Henry Davis (1836–1920), served the state of Missouri 1879 to 1885.

Confederate leaders

• Clement Claiborne Clay (1816–1882), Confederate States senator, 1862 to 1864; formerly a U.S. senator.
• Nicholas Davis, Jr. (1825–1875), delegate to Alabama Secession Convention; deputy to Provisional Confederate Congress, April 1861 to 1862; lieutenant colonel in Confederate States Army.
• Thomas Fearn (1789–1863), deputy to Provisional Confederate Congress (resigned after first session).
• David P. Lewis (1820–1884), deputy to Provisional Confederate Congress (resigned after first session); later governor.
• LeRoy Pope Walker (1817–1884), first Confederate States secretary of war, 1861; also a Confederate brigadier general.
• Richard Wilde Walker (1823–1874), deputy to Provisional Confederate Congress, 1861 to 1862; Confederate States senator, 1864 to 1865.

Military figures

• William T. H. Brooks (1821–1870), Union brigadier general.
• Gilbert M. L. Johnson (1837–1871), Union brevet brigadier general.
• Egbert J. Jones (d. 1861), colonel of the 4th Alabama Infantry Regiment, CSA, killed in the First Battle of Manassas.
• LeRoy Pope Walker (1817–1884), Confederate brigadier general; formerly Confederate secretary of war.

Other people

• Virginia Clay-Clopton (1823–1915), wife of Clement Claiborne Clay, memoirist and socialite.
• Albert Russel Erskine (1871–1933), automobile magnate and president of Studebaker Motors.
• Thomas Freeman (d. 1821), United States Surveyor General.
• LeRoy Pope (1765–1844), early planter and "Father of Huntsville."

Notes

1. ^ Robey et al., vii-xiv.
2. ^ Wells; Robey et al., 1-2.
3. ^ Robey et all, xiv-xix.

References

• Robey, Diane, Dorothy Scott Johnson, John Rison Jones, Jr., and Frances C. Roberts. Maple Hill Cemetery: Phase One. Huntsville: Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, 1995.
• Kestenbaum, Lawrence. The Political Graveyard. Accessed April 3, 2006.
• Marsh, Louise and Minnie Marie Hedden. Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville: Twickenham Woman's Club.
• Wells, Charles R. "Maple Hill Cemetery Confederate Burials." Copied from The Valiant Survivors: The United Confederate Veterans of Madison County.
• Maple Hill at Find-A-Grave.com. Accessed June 14, 2006.

External links

• City of Huntsville Cemetery Department.

Coordinates: 34°43′58.71″N 86°34′24.11″W / 34.732975°N 86.5733639°W / 34.732975; -86.5733639