Courtland Cemetery

Courtland Cemetery. , Side A , One of Alabama's oldest and most picturesque town cemeteries, this site was set aside as a burying ground by the Courtland Land Company in its original survey made prior to the incorporation of the town in 1819. Many of the area's earliest settlers and prominent leaders are buried here, including three Revolutionary War veterans. There are a number of unmarked graves of Confederate soldiers. Three Union soldiers were interred here following an 1863 skirmish at the nearby railroad trestle. Their graves were later enclosed behind a rock wall erected by the townspeople. (Over), Side B , Older gravemarkers found in this cemetery represent a variety of styles and types common in the 1800s and early 1900s. They include simple upright stone slabs as well as "table" and "box" tombs, tall granite obelisks and Victorian-era statuary. Some family plots are enclosed with ornamental cast-iron fences. Older graves lie mostly in the southern part of the cemetery. After the Civil War, an African-American burial ground was established just east of the main cemetery. Oldest graves in this section date from the early 1900s. (Over)