Jena in Greene County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery
Greene County
Photographed by Jimmy Emerson, April 8, 2026
1. Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery Marker
Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church erected a church structure in 1879 on land owned by James Allen Peebles, who then donated the property to the church. Scottish-born brothers Albert and Lemuel Peebles were free Black people who immigrated to South Carolina before settling in Mantua, Greene County, in the 1850s. Chaney, an enslaved woman on the nearby Otterson plantation, owned by Major Samuel Otterson, married into the Peebles family and had one child. Chaney was buried in 1908, making hers the oldest marked grave in the cemetery. and the first of many Peebles descendants. The current chairman of the deacon board, Albert Peebles, is the great-grandson of the original property owner.
Erected 2024 by Big Zion AME Zion Church & AHC.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Religion & Religious Structures. A significant historical year for this entry is 1879.
Location. 33° 7.107′ N, 87° 52.905′ W. Marker is in Jena, Alabama, in Greene County. It can be reached from County
this page online
Regionally, this marker is in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, and in the Black Belt. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 14 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: King's Store Skirmish / Lanier's Mill Skirmish (approx. 2.9 miles away); Beulah Baptist Church (approx. 6.6 miles away); Running Skirmish at Romulus (approx. 7.8 miles away); Bethel Baptist Church (approx. 8 miles away); Grant's Creek Baptist Church / Fosters, Alabama (approx. 10.3 miles away); Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church (approx. 13.9 miles away); First City Hall - Jail (approx. 14 miles away);
Photographed by Jimmy Emerson, April 8, 2026
2. Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery Marker
Another marker is no longer nearby. Romulus, Alabama (was approx. 7.8 miles away but has been confirmed missing).
Photographed by Jimmy Emerson, April 8, 2026
3. Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church & Cemetery & Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on April 15, 2026. It was originally submitted on April 9, 2026, by Jimmy Emerson of Dalton, Georgia. This page has been viewed 11 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on April 9, 2026, by Jimmy Emerson of Dalton, Georgia. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
