Oakland Cemetery

Oakland Cemetery is located at 1300 Warrior Road, 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.

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

• General William Wirt Allen - Civil War General
• T.E. McGiboney - age 15, died in 1933. First on the job death of a paper carrier after being struck by a car, for The Birmingham Age-Herald.

References

• "Oakland Cemetery, Fairfield" in The Heritage of Jefferson County, Alabama. Clanton: Heritage Publishing Consultants. ISBN 1891647547, p. 142