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Maple Hill Cemetery, Phase 1, page xiii
must rely on cemetery plat records and the few stone markers which remain, especially in Section 1, at the comer of Wells Avenue and Maple Hill Drive. The earliest graves recorded in this volume seem to be: Mary Frances Atwood (September 17, 1820) and Napoleon Pope, son of Benjamin Pope (June 30, 1821). Thus, it is obvious with these early graves that the new site was in use well before the legal papers were drawn up. It is equally obvious, given the sparsity of headstones in Section 1, that many other graves possibly pre-date those cited. It is known that broken monuments were incorporated into the brick wall built around the cemetery in the 1920s and 1930s. The expansion of Maple Hill into its present configuration began sometime in the late 1840s. The exact date is unknown. However, a map of great importance in plotting this expansion has been located. The original map in Chancery Records disappeared many years ago. A duplicate map is in Deed Book 114, which was drawn up by Elijah Hansbrough, the Surveyor of the County and Acting Justice of the Peace as of the date of the map, February 3, 1849. This map plots the holdings of the Estate of William H. Pope, the son of LeRoy, who died in 1848. This map supposedly drawn to the scale of 40 poles (660 feet) per inch seems to show a larger original section for the old cemetery in 1849. Lot #1, immediately south of the original cemetery, also consists of 2 acres. Since the dot in the old section represents the Meridian stone, then the southern boundary of the original section suggests the present entry drive into the cemetery. It would appear that prior to 1848 an additional 2 acres may have been added to the 1822 purchase. However, no record of such a transaction has been found.' Forced to sell land by pressing creditors, the Administrator of the Pope Estate, LeRoy Pope Walker, was directed by the court to divide much of his Uncle's property adjacent to the City into lots and streets. This appears to be the origins of White and California Streets. Larger sections, to the east of California Street, were kept as sizable parcels for sale. There is no record of the sale of Lot #1 to the City. On February 3, 1849, it is considered a part of the Pope Estate. However, there are three important monuments on this property which suggest its use at an earlier time as a burial site. The first is a large monument which records the deaths of LeRoy and Judith Pope, John Williams Walker and his son, Charles Henry Walker. Some believe that these remains may have been moved to the cemetery following the sale of the Pope mansion, called Poplar Grove Plantation (now Echols Hill), to Dr. Charles Patton, the son of William Patton, in 1849 following William Pope's death. It is known that the Pope family maintained a burial ground on their property. But it is also conceivable that the private Pope burial ground could be this property, adjacent to the public cemetery. Thomas George Percy was buried on this site when he died in 1841. His wife, Maria, the daughter of LeRoy and Judith Pope, died in 1847, and three of their children who died between 1820 and 1844 are memorialized on the Percy obelisk. Nearby is the grave of John Connally, 1783-1845, the well known friend of President Andrew Jackson and the onetime owner of the famed Green Bottom Inn, located north of the city at Normal, Alabama. These monuments suggest that this area may have been in use for burials by 1844 (the death of LeRoy Pope). When the lot was deeded to the city remains unknown. Whatever the case, the addition of Lot #1 became the southern boundary of Maple Hill sometime after 1849. Further expansion became necessary when on May 5, 1873, the city purchased 12.45 acres from James J. Donegan who had purchased Lots #2 and #3 from the Pope Estate. Together with Lot xiii - (15)