Columbia Cemetery

Columbia was established in 1820 as part of the growing westward expansion into Alabama by pioneers and settlers. This cemetery was started sometime in the 1830s on land donated by Reverend Edmund Talbot. It was established after the construction of the now-defunct Omussee Creek Church Cemetery located a mile South West of this location. 

A “public meeting house” was built here in 1832 which served as the initial building for the Columbia Baptist Church. In 1882 an extension to the north was given to the cemetery by Richard P. and Sarah McGriff. As part of expansions, community member Wiley Brooks built the “summer house” at the cemetery entrance in 1883. Later that year a metal perimeter fence was erected and has since been expanded.

In 1859, Nathaniel Ferris Oakley built a new baptist church in the cemetery which remained active on the grounds until 1885. Another extension of land was added to the cemetery in 1919 when the cemetery acquired land from Nora Davis Campbell. In 1932 the Protestant Episcopal Church gave land to extend the cemetery south to Church Street. In 1983 the family of Marion L. and Viola H. Oakley gave a plot of land to extend the cemetery to the west.

In 2013 the cemetery became the first in Houston County to be listed in the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register. In 2015 a historical marker was erected by the Friends of Columbia and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, making it the sixth historical marker in Houston County.

The Columbia Cemetery in its history has accumulated the graves of some notable individuals and holds much of Columbia’s early history. Amongst those in the earlier years are the pioneers and settlers who founded Columbia. The first grave within the cemetery is unfortunately that of William J. McGriff. Son of Richard and Sarah McGriff who donated much of the land of the cemetery, William died on June 10th, 1839 when he was only 2 months old. Amongst the other graves in the cemetery are many soldiers of the confederacy. Three soldiers of the Columbia Blues who were killed in the Battle of Seven Pines in Virginia are buried here. Some U.S. veterans are also buried here from the Spanish-American War, WW1, WW2, and the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Most notable amongst those buried here is Captain Callie French Tomlinson of showboat fame on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Callie French was married to Augustus French who ran New Sensation showboats along the waterways outside of New Orleans. Augustus encouraged Callie to get her pilot’s license and soon enough she was piloting the river showboats after 1888, making her one of four women in the period to be a female pilot. Not long after Callie French got her pilot’s license, she gained her captain’s ticket in 1895, making her the second female licensed master.

The plan was for Captain Callie to operate their showboat business when her husband was ashore. However, she did not end up having to take command until ten years after when Callie would run her own showboat unit. Amongst her patrons, she was called “Aunt Callie” and continued to pilot and command riverboats until 1907 when she retired. In 2001 she was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame.

Atwell, Don. William J. McGriff, Find A Grave. March 11th 2010. Accessed December 6th 2020. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49570697/william-j.-mcgriff.

Brown, Ashley. Columbia City Cemetery ghost stories, WTVY.com. October 23rd 2020. Accessed December 6th 2020. https://www.wtvy.com/2020/10/23/columbia-city-cemetery-ghost-stories/.

CAPTAIN CALLIE LEACH FRENCH, National Rivers Hall of Fame. Accessed December 6th 2020. https://www.rivermuseum.com/national-rivers-hall-of-fame-inductees/inductees/captain-callie-leach-french.

Cemetery Program, Alabama Historical Commission. Accessed December 6th 2020. https://ahc.alabama.gov/cemeteryprogram.aspx.

Hilton, Mark. Columbia Cemetery, Historical Marker Database. March 15th 2018. Accessed December 6th 2020. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=115031.

Phillips, Greg. Columbia Cemetery first in Houston County to get historic marker, Dothan Eagle. October 11th 2015. Accessed December 6th 2020. https://dothaneagle.com/news/local/columbia-cemetery-first-in-houston-county-to-get-historic-marker/article_352c7b1a-7093-11e5-94d1-13adff25f9ce.html.

Sipes, Eric. Columbia Cemetery, Alabama Historical Commission. May 13th 2020. Accessed December 6th 2020. https://services2.arcgis.com/XBn0Kai3hQ20FeCo/arcgis/rest/services/AHC_Historical_Markers_1/FeatureServer/0/162/attachments/161.