Quick Visits to Confederate Memorial Park & Horseshoe Bend

In July 2012 my brother Richard and I took the first of our summer trips together visiting sites mostly related to either Alabama history or family history in the state. On this trip we took in not only the two places discussed in this post, but sites in other cities such as Sylacauga, Alexander City, Gadsden, Rainbow City and Hokes Bluff. Future blog posts on those place are coming.

I'm finally starting to do something on this blog with all the photos I took, so here's where we begin. These two places are related to a pair of defining periods in national and Alabama history--the Creek War of 1813-1814 and the Civil War.

We stopped first at Confederate Memorial Park in Chilton County. This park and museum is located on the site of the Confederate Soldiers' Home, which the state operated from 1902 until 1939 for aging veterans, their wives and widows. The park was created in 1964; in 1971 the Alabama Historical Commission took over operations. The Encyclopedia of Alabama has a history of the facility available here.

There are several things to see in the park. The modern museum has numerous artifacts related to the average Confederate soldier and the postwar years. Almost 300 veterans and several wives and widows are buried in the two cemeteries. The property also has a nature trail through an Alabama Treasure Forest. The Mountain Creek Post Office built in 1900 and the Marbury Methodist Church built in 1883 have been moved to the site. 

Once we had finished at the Park, we headed off to Tallapoosa County and the National Military Park at the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River. First stop was the Visitor Center and its exhibits. Then we headed to the battle site itself.

On March 27, 1814, General Andrew Jackson led a force of Tennessee militia, regular US soldiers, and his Cherokee and Lower Creek Native American allies into battle against Chief Menawa and his Upper Creek or Red Stick warriors. The conflict had begun the previous year as a civil war among the Creeks, with some siding with Americans in the War of 1812 and others hostile to the United States. 

Menawa, some 1000 warrior and 350 women and children had settled in a temporary, fortified village named Tohopeka in December 1813. Jackson arrived with some 3300 men. You can read the details of the Red Sticks' devastating loss here. The final result was the Treat of Fort Jackson in which the Creeks turned over more than 20 million acres of their lands to the United States. After Jackson became president in 1828, he signed the Indian Removal Act after which Creeks and Cherokees were forced to move to Indian Territory during the 1830's. The area is now Oklahoma; I've written a blog post on some of the Creek names that followed the people. 

I've made some further comments below. All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.

Here's Richard in front of that Mountain Creek post office. Several photos below show the cemetery close to the museum.

Memorial Hall was built in 1902 and included the commandant's office, a library, a parlor, and a conference room. The upper floor was used as an auditorium. Fire destroyed the building in 1924.

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

This photo shows the museum and a flag display. 

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

These three photos show the site of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend as it looks today. On the other side of the trees the Tallapoosa River winds around the bend. All was quiet that day, a sharp contrast to the March day 200 years ago when so many Creeks and whites died here. Jackson's force lost 49 men and more than 150 were wounded. Some 550 Red Sticks died on this field; an estimated 300 more were shot in the river. 

We were standing on the "high ground" near the location of the breastworks noted on the map below when I took these photos.

Source is here.

Another map of the Bend and the battle.

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

This same guy reappeared at Horseshoe Bend.

Peter Petroff: From Bulgaria to Alabama

Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville is a place crowded with tombstones and history. The original portion dates from the early 1820's and is operated by the city. The 75 acres are believed to hold more than 80,000 graves, ranging from the forgotten to a notorious local madam and five Alabama governors. 

In recent years more acreage has opened up, and this section is maintained by a private firm. My parents have a plot there, and dad was interred when he died in 2003. Across the narrow road from the area with his grave is the stone you see below for Peter Petroff.

Mr. Petroff had quite a busy life; his stone only hints at his interests and achievements. Born in Bulgaria, he made his way during World War II through the French Foreign Legion, POW status in Germany, and the Bulgarian Army before ending up in Canada in 1950. After some time in the Arctic and Vietnam, he reached the United States and the U.S. space program in Florida. For several years he worked on early weather and communications satellites. Petroff moved to Huntsville in 1963 where he joined Wernher von Braun's team at NASA. 

In 1968 he started his own electronics business that developed a wireless heart monitor for hospitals. That venture led to development of the Pulsar, an early, pricey prototype digital watch.

 Petroff died in February 2003. You can read more about his life here and here. A New York Times obituary is here.

A Walk Among the Pelham Stones

I recently made a visit to the Pelham Cemetery and thought I would share some of what I found. Cemeteries can be places for solemn reflection but they also offer much for anyone with an interest in history, family or otherwise. Many hints of Pelham's history can be found here.

In the nearly two years I've been posting on this blog, I've done quite a few items on the city's past. Makes sense; I live here. I've covered the general history of Pelham, the development of its schools, the long-gone Pelham Heights Hotel and even more recent history--the former locations of video stores. Now let's see what we find among the stones. 

Many last names appear frequently on these stones, representing earlier residents of the area or their more recent descendants. These names include Bishop, Brasher, Butler, Coates, Cross, Dennis, Douglas, Dunaway, Elliott, Glass, Grubbs, Lee, Martin, Oates, Payne, Peyton, Powell, Smith, Stewart and Wilson. Paul Yeager, Pelham's first mayor after incorporation in 1964, is also buried here. 

The graves of four doctors are located in the cemetery. I discuss them and selected other graves below.

UPDATE 18 October 2019

You can read a Pelham Reporter article about a group placing flags on the veteran graves in this cemetery here. 

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Source: Find-A-Grave

Source: Find-A-Grave

I pulled into the cemetery and found a place to park right in front of this sign. Sad that such a declaration is needed in such a place.

There are some nice views in the cemetery despite its location in the middle of busy Pelham.

Angel statuary of all types are often found in older cemeteries. Graves of infants and young children can be found in cemeteries of any age.

You never know who or what you'll encounter in a cemetery. 

This stone is an example of an individual born before the Civil War who is buried here.

The cemetery is located at a busy intersection just a block off U.S. Highway 31 and is surrounded by retail and light industrial businesses.

On some modern gravestones you'll find a photograph of the deceased. 

Elias Bishop's is another one of the older graves in the cemetery. His stone features a Masonic symbol with carpenter's square and compass indicating the deceased's membership in that fraternal organization. Bishop is one of the common names in the cemetery.

Dr. A.W. Horton

[April 11, 1872-February 24, 1910]

He is the only Horton buried here.

The cemetery has a trio of children's graves side-by-side. 

Dr. Garland H. Smith

[July 10, 1860-September 2, 1905]

He graduated from the Medical College of Alabama in 1889 and began practice in Shelby County the next year.

Cemeteries are full of gravestone symbolism. The hand is pointing to heaven; the crown suggests the glory of God. 

Dr. William B. Cross
[October 5, 1821-December 25, 1884]

His brother W.S. Cross was a merchant in Pelham. 

Payne was apparently a popular physician who was murdered in Birmingham by a jealous husband. 

This quatrain or some variation can be found on grave markers across America. 

Dr. Payne's gravestone is one of the tallest in the cemetery.

There are some striking gravestones in this cemetery, but given its age there is one type conspicuously missing--the tree stump markers. I've seen many of those in cemeteries in Alabama and elsewhere. Before 1930 they were often erected for members of the Woodmen of the World fraternal society. 

A Visit to Historic Hobbs Cemetery in Huntsville

Well, a "visit" is an ambitious word in this case, since the cemetery is so small and so close to my mother's house in southeast Huntsville just north of the Tennessee River. But it's worth a stop, anyway.

This pocket cemetery sits between two houses in a development that is only a few decades old. This section of Huntsville has been growing for some time, as the commercial and residential developments just north in Jones Valley indicate.

Yet in a few places something older will pop up, such as the Historic Hobbs Cemetery on Siniard Drive. And this place is pretty old. More than 20 people are buried here, including John Hobbs who once owned Hobbs Island just to the south. Hobbs died in 1833; his brother-in-law James Fennell died in 1817 and his headstone may be the oldest in Madison County. Where Fennell was originally buried and the relationship between his grave and Hobbs' makes for an interesting story.

A railroad once terminated at the island. Railroad cars would be loaded onto ferries and floated downstream to Guntersville Landing. Offloaded there, the trains then made their way to Gadsden. The island is currently listed for sale at $7.8 million. 

As these photos taken in August show, the cemetery is currently in need of some cleanup. In February 2012 the Huntsville Times ran a story about a Boy Scout who was cleaning up the cemetery as part of his effort to earn the Eagle Scout badge. Nate Hornsby expressed the hope that others would care for the cemetery in the future. Perhaps someone will. although neglected cemeteries are pretty common in America.

A Story in Stone: John Payne, M.D. [1860-1901]

Cemeteries are places crowded with fascinating stories, and the Pelham City Cemetery just off U.S. 31 at the corner of Industrial Park Road and Lee Street is no exception. There among many others with the same surname is the marker of John Payne, M.D.

Born in August 1860, Payne appears in the 1880 U.S. Census living in Shelby County with his father William H., a farmer, and mother Jane and his nine siblings. Somehow Payne managed to go to medical school, graduating from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1886. That school would have offered him one of the best medical educations available in the U.S. at the time. Members of the Shelby County medical board which tested him that same year for certification were apparently not impressed. The state medical association’s Transactions for 1887 noted, “This examination is not credible to the board. The papers are badly arranged, written on both sides, and some of the sheets evidently missing.”

Nevertheless, the board granted his certificate, since “The answers are usually correct.” After his examination, Payne moved to the Birmingham area and practiced there until his death. Sadly, he was shot by telegraph operator James P. Cook on May 30, 1901, and died the next day. A newspaper account of the murder declared that “The physician was a very popular young man.”

According to that press article, Cook shot Payne twice in the head from behind the doctor. Cook had recently separated from his wife, “said to be a very handsome woman,” and jealously was presumed to have fueled both the separation and the murder.

Payne apparently never practiced in Pelham, although during his lifetime several other physicians did. Based on the state medical society’s annual Transactions, at least four doctors were in Pelham at some point during those years: Eli F. Denson, Andrew W. Horton, and two Johnsons, Joseph M. and William R.K.

Payne is not the only physician buried in the City Cemetery who practiced elsewhere. William Betta Cross is known to have spent time in Helena and Columbiana before his death on Christmas Day 1884. That’s another story hidden in stone. An inventory of the cemetery done in 2002 is available.  

More photos can be seen at the Find-A-Grave site for Dr. Payne.

A version of this article appeared in the Pelham City News Fall 2013 issue.