Baptist Hill

Baptist Hill. . , (Side 1) , Auburn's first separate black community cemetery offers a rich source of the city’s black heritage. Much of the history is oral but it is known that a white man gave most of the land in the early 1870’s. The four acre cemetery contains over 500 marked graves and many others are unmarked. The oldest grave is dated 1879. Those interred here are a cross section of the city’s blacks. Many were born slaves but later succeeded in teaching or business. The cemetery is still in use and is maintained by the City of Auburn but its ownership is unknown. Documentation of the site was done by the Auburn Heritage Association in 1990. (Continued on other side). (Side 2) (Continued from other side). Though located at the base of a slope, the cemetery derives its name from Ebenezer Baptist Church on a hill to the west. Ebenezer, established in 1865, was the first black churched formed in Auburn after the Civil War. The church building was erected before 1870 on land donated by Lonnie Payne, a white man. The church was so prominent in the area that it gave the name "Baptist Hill" to the vicinity. Its members were the first buried in the cemetery although members of other black churches are now interred here. Ebenezer was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The cemetery was added to the Alabama Register in 1994.