Maple Hill Cemetery

A Taphophile Tour in Huntsville, Alabama

In a move that honors both the living history and the spirits of Huntsville, Ala., the city recently acquired 1.1 acres on the east side of Maple Hill Cemetery—the largest in the state, which currently sprawls across nearly 100 acres and holds more than 80,000 interments. The land will be part of the cemetery’s future expansion plans, which are currently in development. This growth ensures that Huntsville’s oldest and largest burial ground will continue to serve the community, both the departed and the devout, while preserving the solemn beauty of its large oaks and weathered monuments.

Maple Hill is the oldest and largest municipal cemetery in the south—and still growing (Photos: Taryn Chase Jackson)

A Graveyard at the Heart of Huntsville

Maple Hill Cemetery began as a humble two-acre burial ground purchased from planter LeRoy Pope in 1818, with the earliest marked grave dating back to 1820. By 1822, it was municipally established and, through successive expansions—most notably the Erskine Addition in 1918 and a 59-acre purchase in 1924—has grown into a 100-acre necropolis that anchors the city’s eastern edge.

Situated at 202 Maple Hill Drive, the cemetery adjoins Huntsville’s historic Twickenham district, where brick-lined streets and historic homes meet rolling fields of laid-flat stones and soaring obelisks. Its earliest sections, numbered 1 through 15 and A through K, cover roughly 35 acres of the grounds. An interactive map is available to guide visitors to specific gravesites, Confederate burial plots, or religious congregational sections—including Jewish and Catholic. A virtual online tour provides historic context, including photos and audio narration, for many of the cemetery’s prominent citizens.

Religious symbolism is prominent among the monuments at Maple Hill. (Photos: Taryn Chase Jackson)

Notable Interments

Beneath the oaks and granite sentinels at Maple Hill Cemetery lie five former governors of Alabama:

• Thomas Bibb (1782–1839), 2nd Governor from 1820–1821

• Clement Comer Clay (1789–1866), 8th Governor from 1835–1837

• Reuben Chapman (1799–1882), 13th Governor from 1847–1849

• Robert M. Patton (1809–1885), 20th Governor from 1865–1868

• David P. Lewis (1820–1884), 23rd Governor from 1872–1874

Five Alabama governors at rest in Maple Hill (Photos: Tim W. Jackson)

And five U.S. senators rest beneath its stones:

• John Williams Walker (1783–1823), U.S. Senator, 1819–1822

• Clement Comer Clay (in addition to being Governor, he was also U.S. Senator, 1837–1841)

• Jeremiah Clemens (1814–1865), U.S. Senator, 1849–1853

• Clement Claiborne Clay (1816–1882), Confederate Senator, 1862–1864

• John J. Sparkman (1899–1985), U.S. Senator, 1946–1979

Their marble effigies and weathered crypts stand as silent witnesses to Alabama’s tumultuous political saga, which continues to the present. As for Bibb, his grave might not be so silent. He was originally buried at his plantation, Belle Mina, and legend has it that he’s still upset about the relocation. Supposedly, he travels by carriage back home under the light of a full moon.

The aforementioned LeRoy Pope and his grandson, LeRoy Pope Walker (that latter served as the Confederacy’s Secretary of War) are both buried here as is Huntsville’s namesake, John Hunt. And the tallest monument—a testament to surveyor Richard W. Anderson—marks the Huntsville Meridian, the line from which all Northern Alabama land was measured.

You’ll also find the final resting place of Maria Howard Weeden, who interestingly went by Howard. She was an internationally famous artist known for her depictions of freed African Americans after the Civil War. Women’s suffragist Priscilla Holmes Drake is buried here, as is 13-year Major League Baseball player Don Mincher.

Interesting monuments—from beautiful sculptures to "zinkies"—abound at Maple Hill. (Photos: Tim W. Jackson [L] & Taryn Chase Jackson [R])

Mysterious Neighbors

Beneath the moon’s silvery eye, a modest swing set and jungle gym lurk in a sunken hollow beside Maple Hill Cemetery—known to locals as Dead Children’s Playground. Legend whispers that the playground occupies ground where many a child felled by the 1918 Spanish flu found their final rest, the spirits of tiny souls forever drawn back to reclaim their lost innocence.

Visitors who linger after dusk swear the swings sway of their own volition—motion born not of wind but of unseen children at play—while distant giggles, soft as ghostly echoes, drift on the night air. Cameras left running capture pale orbs wandering between swings as if gathering for spectral recess. Note that city records list no tally of children interred here.

Looking Ahead: Expansion & Preservation

With the recent land purchase, the city of Huntsville secures future burial space while safeguarding Maple Hill’s historic core. Plans include careful landscaping to integrate new plots among stately live oaks, as well as preservation projects to restore decaying markers in Maple Hill’s earliest sections.

Rather than cut down a beloved storm-damaged tree, the preservation-minded folks at Maple Hill hired talented chainsaw artist, Roark Phillips, to sculpt this beauty. (Photo: Tim W. Jackson)

Each autumn, costumed actors animate history along a two-mile path during the Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll—one of America’s largest living-history events—inviting visitors to meet 75 characters ranging from early settlers to famed scientists. Weekend walking tours are also hosted by Huntsville Ghost Walk, with current themes including Love Beyond the Grave or Civil War Bones.

As Maple Hill Cemetery embraces this next chapter, it stands as a testament to Huntsville’s evolving story—where every monument marks a life, every footstep echoes the past, and every expansion comforts the living with space to remember.