With over 80,000 graves with the earliest still intact grave marked at the year 1820, it’s safe to say that the graves featured here are but just a scratching of the surface of the who, what and what the what? Case in point – I didn’t even make it to the haunted playground at the back of the cemetery!

I thought for my first visit to Maple Hill that I’d focus on some of the women buried within and had a variety of interesting stories. Oh, and those who had beautiful moments that reflected how much they were loved by their folks and family. Those are stories worth telling too…

Mollie Teal, businesswoman, doesn’t rank as one of the more famous figures in Huntsville history, but she does have her niche in the community’s annals. Local historical accounts dutifully note that it was a gift from her that made possible the establishment of the city’s first public hospital shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. They point out that this infirmary, the forerunner to Huntsville Hospital, had once been a house owned by Ms. Teal, which she bequeathed to the city at her death in 1899.

What was not mentioned in these histories, at least not before 1972, is the fact that Mollie Teal was the flamboyant madam of a house of prostitution, perhaps the largest and finest “sportin’ house” the town ever saw. It was this house – a spacious, ten-room, two­story frame structure at the corner of what are now Gallatin and St. Clair streets – that opened in 1904 as “The Huntsville City Infirmary.”

Upon her death at the age of 47 Mollie also made sure that her employees were well taken care of, the library received generous donations, and much more. The Huntsville community was very, very important to Mollie!

In a manner that is considered very surprising for the time and the attitude towards sex workers, Mollie was in turn a very respected citizen of the city. In my readings about her, I found excerpts that discussed her sharp business mind, what a snazzy dresser she was, her wonderful sense of humor and other descriptions that are all based in admiration.

Even now, Mollie’s legacy continues and her work as a madame is often acknowledged with much aplomb. A community cookbook published in the 1990s gave a cheeky nod to Mollie’s profession with the title of the work “Welcome Back.” The story is that a sign bearing that sentiment was prominently displayed on the brothel…

Sadly, the house burned down years after Mollie’s death and after the hospital moved off premise.

Over 300 Romani attended the funeral of well known spiritualist Lena Mitchell in 1959. They danced alongside the hearse and then showered her coffin with gold coins in a traditional token of respect for the dead. However, there’s doubt that this cross is the final resting place of Lena since she was buried with so many valuables! Legend has it that her actual grave is elsewhere and remains unmarked in order to keep it safe from grave robbers.

Today you’ll find that people often stop by the marked grave to leave money, beer, handcrafted items, flowers and even small bottles of mystery liquids, and they’ll ask Lena to grant them a wish in return.

Poor Mary Bibb. When most new brides would be celebrating their wedding day with dreams of the future, she was instead faced with months of suffering before succumbing to an illness brought on by accidental poisoning. Yes, poisoned right after saying ‘I do.’ Goodness gracious!

Legend has it that her grief stricken husband had her entombed wearing her wedding dress and sitting upright in her favorite rocker. And then the ghostly tales began! Visitors to her gravesite say that when you knock on her tomb at night that you’ll hear the creak of her rocking chair moving to and fro. To and fro.

While the sun was on setting on the horizon when I arrived at the cemetery, I was out of there before dark so I didn’t try to witness any of this myself. I’m not a superstitious person per se but at Maple Hill there are a *lot* of ghost stories floating around and I’d rather not take any chances. It’s considered Alabama’s most haunted cemetery for a reason!

Originally from the state of Indiana, Patricia Drake and her lawyer husband moved to Huntsville in 1861. Both Patricia and her husband were outspoken suffragists, and the passion of their cause remained strong especially when they moved to the south. 

Eventually, Patricia befriended and supported a number of other suffragists and abolitionists, including the very well-known Lucretia Mott. The two of them corresponded for years.

Relationships such as those helped Patricia continued her work in the Huntsville area until her death in 1892.

While I don’t have much information on Edith, I do know that she died in her 40’s after moving to Huntsville and that her monument is full of popular symbolism from the height of the Victorian Era. You’ve got angel wings draped with a variety of flowers, an hour glass, a mournfully sad statue and an ouroboros. It was my first time seeing an ouroboros in person and I’m delighted to add that to my list of found cemetery imagery!

Lastly, we have a 10 foot tall monument that was erected at the site of Mary’s grave per Margaret’s final request. Mary & Margaret were sisters. And they were close in life, the bestest of friends, and in death they remained connected by the history of this lovely carving…

The plaque between the columns is eroded to the point that I couldn’t make out the wording but I was able to find the information online in a historical listing. It reads:

The Sisters, lovely and pleasant in their lives and their death these were in stride.

Until we meet again Maple Hill. Which will hopefully be soon!