Oakland Cemetery
Oakland Cemetery is a cemetery located at 1300 Warrior Road in Birmingham.
It was established in 1884, when the first burial took place in the "Old Church Department", a section of the cemetery where a small church known as Oakland Methodist Episcopal Church was situated. Later members established Central Park Methodist Church in 1908.
Another section of the cemetery, called "The Garden of Peace" became the first established veteran burial area in Jefferson County. There is also a large Italian section due to the influx of Italian immigrants to the Ensley area in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The cemetery boasts stands of 100+ year old trees.
In the far northeastern section of the property is Muslim Garden, a separate, fenced section of the operated by the Birmingham Islamic Society.
A well-known statue of a little girl with an outstretched hand stands at the head of a girl named Opal who died after being struck by a car in the early 1900s. According to folk lore, visitors are known to place pennies in the statue's hand, reminiscent of the pennies that Opal was holding when she died.
Notable Burials
- William Wirt Allen, Civil War General
- Adolphus Bell (1944-2013), blues musician
- Jim Carlin (1918-2003), Major League Baseball player
- T. E. McGiboney (1917-1933), paper carrier; the first on-the-job fatality for The Birmingham Age-Herald.
- Nimrod Scott (1858–1943), first mayor of Ensley
References
- "Oakland Cemetery, Fairfield" in The Heritage of Jefferson County, Alabama (2002) Clanton: Heritage Publishing Consultants. ISBN 1891647547, p. 142