City’s cemetery added to state’s historical register

Protected from the bustle of U.S. 11 by an iron fence and watched over by a 200-year-old magnolia tree is one of the city’s treasures ― Trussville Memorial Cemetery. 

Formerly known as Cahawba Baptist Church Cemetery and sitting across from Trussville City Hall, it was recently listed in the Alabama Historic Cemetery register ― a prestigious listing of historic cemeteries. TMC is the 34th cemetery in Jefferson County to be listed, and it now features 738 cemeteries statewide. 

It’s nothing short of a history lesson for passersby who visit: plots littered with magnolia leaves and weathered graves adorned with artificial flowers, flags and bearing the names of Bates, Cole, Garrison, Owen, Praytor, Best, Vann, Carlisle and others. Many were soldiers: Peter J. Blue, who fought in the Confederate States Army, was born in 1831 and died in 1894, and Donald Burns, an Army colonel, fought in three wars and died in 1993. 

“Many of the early pioneer families are buried there,” said Gloria Garrison McHugh, daughter of city councilman John Garrison, who served during the 1990s to early 2000s. “They all contributed to the growth of the city.” 

McHugh is one of about a dozen members of the Trussville Memorial Cemetery Association, or TMCA, who worked on the project. Founded in 1962 by Birmingham attorney and Trussville native Wesley Mann Garrison, the TMCA is responsible for maintaining the cemetery today. 

“I wanted it done because I felt like it was important,” she said.

McHugh’s parents are buried there and all of her father’s 12 siblings are, too. 

According to records, the 4-acre cemetery includes 740 marked graves and 183 unmarked graves, she said, and there are plots still available. 

The centrally located magnolia tree, one of the oldest in Alabama, acts as a sentinel — sheltering the oldest graves and even carrying its own legends.

The land where the cemetery sits, which was purchased in 1821 by well-known settler Warren Truss, became his family’s homestead. He became a charter member of Cahawba Baptist Church soon after, later to be known as First Baptist Church, and the original building was built just west of the cemetery, on the plot that later became Dairy Cone. Truss gave the land to the church in 1827. 

“My aunt remembers going to church there and tells us stories about it,” McHugh said. 

In the early 1870s, the railroad reached Trussville. The church moved to its current location on Chalkville Road in 1946, and the church later deeded the cemetery property to the TMCA when it formed. 

Truss, his wife, and four of their 10 kids are buried at Trussville Memorial Cemetery. Zilpha, his youngest daughter who died at the age of 7, is the first burial listed in the records, McHugh said, bearing the year 1829. 

Part of the lengthy process of adding it to the state registry is exploring the unique grave markers, McHugh said. 

There are timeworn obelisk etchings, woodmen of the world carved monuments, and numerous fallen graves. There are comb graves, which some say were once used for keeping cows from trampling headstones, and there are rock cairn graves, which are stacks of stones covering a grave. There are box graves ― stone slabs arranged in a rectangular shape, into which a deceased person was then placed with an epitaph inscribed on top. There are numerous fieldstone markers ― etched by hand ― which were used in areas where people either didn’t have the money for a headstone or where sources for masonry markers were unavailable, McHugh said.

There are also cenotaph graves, or markers placed in honor of someone whose remains are uncertain or elsewhere. 

“We have a family member who we know was buried in the cemetery, but we didn’t know where, so we used a cenotaph,” she said.

Other requirements that had to be met include assessing the architectural design of the cemetery, a burial list, public access, maintenance, marker designs and types, a short history of the cemetery and photos. 

The Alabama Historical Commission does not provide funds for preserving the cemeteries listed on the register, but they do provide resources on maintaining the ancient tombstones. 

A historical marker will later be erected to recognize the cemetery being on the register, McHugh said. The TMCA also held two cemetery strolls over the last few years to educate residents on its history, and they hope to have more in the future. 

“The best part is that if something happens to the cemetery 200 years from now, the Alabama Historical Commission now has historical records of its existence,” McHugh said.

For more information, go to Trussville Memorial Cemetery Association on Facebook.