Containing over 100,000 buried souls, Magnolia Cemetery is a hauntingly beautiful place of rest for many notable Mobilians from days gone by. The cemetery was established in 1836 and making it Mobile’s third oldest graveyard. It contains over 120 acres with beautiful old oak trees and two entrances lined with magnolia trees. There is also National Cemetery with over 6,000 veterans including a Confederate Rest with its 1100 war dead and two Jewish cemeteries. A plethora of magnificent funerary sculptures keep watch over the graves. Magnolia Cemetery is cared for by The Friends of Magnolia Cemetery. This nonprofit organization was established in 1981 by the Historic Mobile Preservation Society to arrange for volunteer workdays to clear the grass that covered the graves and monuments. Magnolia Cemetery was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Magnolia Cemetery is a work of art with its beautiful cast iron work, mourning angels, crosses, lambs, and monuments. Many of these sculptures in Victorian funerary art represent symbols such as broken columns signify a life cut short while a full column means that a person led a full life. Lambs signify childhood innocence. Angels guard the tomb and direct the living to look heavenward. There is one statue known as the Iron Lady located on the Rowan Family Lot in Square 17. She is titled “Solemnity.” She is different from any other statues in other cemeteries because she is made of cast iron. The other cemetery statues are made from granite or marble. She was forged by the iron foundry of Wood and Perot of Philadelphia, Penn around the mid-1800s and is estimated to be over 100 years old. The Iron Lady has a eerie legend attached to it. She was positioned to face the ocean rather than the east. The legend said she represents a woman who spent each day watching the sea for her lover who never returned. If anyone tries to move her away from facing the sea, then Mobile is struck with violent storms until she returned facing the sea again. So, please leave the Iron Lady alone, especially during hurricane season!
Some of the famous historical Mobilians interned here include Michael Krafft, founder of the Cowbellion de Rakin, forerunner to our many Mardi Gras mystic societies; Bettie Hunter, a former slave who became the first Black female carriage business owner; Mr. and Mrs. Walter D. Bellingrath, founders of Bellingrath Gardens; Gen. Braxton Bragg, U.S. Army officer and Confederate General; Battle House Hotel owner James Battle; Apache Indian Chappo Geronimo, son of Geronimo; Renown physician, Dr. Josiah Nott who was one of the first doctors who found the connection between yellow fever and mosquitoes. Dr. Nott lost 4 children and a brother-in-law to Mobile’s yellow fever epidemic. Dr George Ketchum, Physician and Water Works president who brought safe drinking water to Mobile. The fountain in Bienville Square honors this man. That is just to name to few. The historic figures interred here are from rich to poor, along with many ethnic groups and various military conflicts. There are so many extraordinary stories of our past Mobilians to explore and to keep their past alive. I challenge you to explore the history of the person behind the grave. I found one such woman whose story deserves to be told and a statue needs to be made in her honor at the foot of Government Street. I will share her story in the next blog post. To be continued…
Well done and can’t wait for the continuation. I have to go in search of Geronimo’s son.
Thank you! Lots of stories buried there that would make some great made for TV series.