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Description

Those buried in Glenwood Cemetery have a history unlike any other in Huntsville, Alabama. An African American Cemetery founded by the city in 1870, Glenwood Cemetery is Huntsville’s oldest surviving African-American burial ground. Glenwood is the resting place of people born slaves, emancipated, and who lived out the remainder of their days in the separate-but-equal south. Buried here are people of great accomplishment, including doctors, educators, clergymen, political leaders, merchants, and artisans. Tombstones identify those who fought in America’s war, men who risked their lives in defense of a nation that denied their civil rights.No burial records for Glenwood were kept until the 1950s and there was no historical plot of the cemetery. Working with community volunteers, the Huntsville Cemetery Director, Joy McKee, coordinated a project that identified, located, and cataloged all the graves in Glenwood cemetery, many of which were unmarked. Their efforts led to the listing of Glenwood Cemetery in Alabama’s Register of Historic Cemeteries and the National Register of Historic Places.The history of Glenwood Cemetery begins with Georgia, Huntsville’s first African American cemetery established on two acres of land sold by LeRoy Pope to Huntsville City Commissioners in 1818. The site of the original Georgia cemetery is on land now occupied by the Huntsville Hospital parking garage, near the intersection of Madison Street and St. Clair Avenue. Huntsville leaders decided in 1870 to establish a new African American cemetery on the city’s western boundaries, on ten acres of land between Holmes and Clinton Avenues. As no one kept burial records of those buried in Georgia, it is unknown how many graves were moved from the Georgia cemetery to Glenwood and how many bodies remain in the ground beneath the hospital complex.The first efforts to identify and document those buried at Glenwood began in 1993 when Mrs. Ollye Conley took her students from the Academy for Science and Foreign Language to the cemetery on a search for Huntsville’s African American history. Documenting Glenwood Cemetery became a special project of the Academy, as Mrs. Conley, teachers, students, and parents used information from tombstones to research those buried there and their history. In 1996, working with the Cemetery Department, a historical marker from the Alabama Historical Association was placed at the cemetery. Mrs. Conley and her students received commendations from Presidents Clinton and Bush for their work. In order to make the history of those buried at Glenwood Cemetery more accessible, this walking tour has been created.** Over many years, Mrs. Ollye Conley, local Glenwood Cemetery historian, and many student and adult volunteers have gathered the information about the lives of those people included in the tour. Other volunteers in several organizations drafted the included profiles with the gathered information. Dr. Dorla Evans and Mrs. Penny Sumners of Twickenham Town Chapter, NSDAR, in Huntsville, organized the effort, ensured format consistency, found headstones, and uploaded the materials to this TheClio site.WE RECOMMEND THAT VISITORS PRINT OUT THE SATELLITE MAP, INCLUDING ALL STOPPING PINS, BEFORE ARRIVING AT THE CEMETERY. THIS WILL PROVIDE A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE HEADSTONE LOCATIONS. WHILE WALKING FROM ONE HEADSTONE TO ANOTHER, VISITORS SHOULD USE THE PRINTED SATELLITE MAP, THE LIVE SATELLITE MAP ON THE WEBSITE, AND THE SATELLITE PHOTOS AVAILABLE IN THE PHOTO SECTION OF THE ENTRY TO HELP NAVIGATE BETWEEN LOCATIONS. THE LIVE SATELLITE IMAGES ON THE WEBSITE CAN BE ROTATED TO IMPROVE VISIBILITY AROUND AND BENEATH TREES FOR BETTER ORIENTATION, OR THIS LINK MAY HELP (also available in the links section):https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1KVPHVNyIJ8UTwKCMLtLQdKn9XVuqPgUF?usp=sharingTO UPDATE ANY INFORMATION related to Glenwood Cemetery and the profiles contained here, please contact the City of Huntsville, Alabama, Cemetery Director at 256-427-5730 or MapleHill@HuntsvilleAL.gov. Donations for the upkeep of the family headstones and fencing will be gladly accepted.