Home > United States of America > Alabama > Butler County > Greenville > Pioneer Cemetery

Pioneer Cemetery

Memorials	:	3
Location	:	Greenville, Butler County, USA
Coordinate	:	31.8281002, -86.6219025
Description	:	Pioneer Cemetery is Greenville’s oldest cemetery, established when the town was settled by immigrants who came into the Alabama Territory, and then the new state of Alabama, on the Federal Road -- the main pioneer highway from Georgia and the Carolinas. The town site was on land originally patented by Ephraim Parmer in 1819. Greenville became Butler County’s seat of government in 1822. Residents set aside a two-acre plot for a church and graveyard, marked on three sides by what are now South Park Street (originally named Cemetery Street), Walnut and Dunklin Streets. The western side of the churchyard... Read More	Pioneer Cemetery is Greenville’s oldest cemetery, established when the town was settled by immigrants who came into the Alabama Territory, and then the new state of Alabama, on the Federal Road -- the main pioneer highway from Georgia and the Carolinas. The town site was on land originally patented by Ephraim Parmer in 1819. Greenville became Butler County’s seat of government in 1822. Residents set aside a two-acre plot for a church and graveyard, marked on three sides by what are now South Park Street (originally named Cemetery Street), Walnut and Dunklin Streets. The western side of the churchyard and cemetery, where the First United Methodist Church stands today, was then the town’s western boundary. Over the years, the communal burial ground was called the “Old Cemetery,” the “Methodist burying ground” and the “old pioneers cemetery.” Eventually its name became “Pioneer Cemetery.” The earliest marked burial is that of James Dunklin, born in 1779 and died in 1827. He was a magistrate and state legislator in South Carolina before emigrating to Alabama. Greenville’s first physicians, Dr. Hillary Herbert, and his brother, Dr. George B. Herbert, are buried with their families in Pioneer Cemetery. John Bolling, Greenville’s first hotel and tavern owner, lies here; as well as members of the Black, Pickens, Caldwell, Deming, Gafford, Burnett and other early settler families. Reverend Samuel Oliver, a Methodist minister who brought his family from Ireland to settle in the Alabama Territory before 1819, is buried in Pioneer Cemetery. A simple stone marks the grave of Ina Marie Porter Henry Ockenden, noted literary figure who became the first woman in the Alabama Press Association. Pioneer Cemetery’s first graves were marked by wooden crosses and headboards, which vanished over time. Today, the cemetery contains burials marked with obelisks, box tombs, ornate metal covers and fencing, statuary, decorative curbing, and scallop shell-covered mounds, as well as traditional tablets and ledger stones. The original graveyard was nearly full by the end of the War Between the States, so a “New Cemetery” was established on the west side of the growing town. This burial ground was merged with an adjacent newer cemetery, "Pine Crest," in the early 1900s, and is now known as Magnolia Cemetery. Interments continued in Pioneer Cemetery where families had used burial plots for generations. The last person buried in there was Lilly Black Stanley, who died in 1961. She was the great-granddaughter of early settlers Andrew Martin Pickens and Isabella Caldwell. In the 1920s, the Father Ryan Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy sponsored a successful fund-raising effort to have an iron fence erected around the cemetery, replacing the picket fences, barbed wire, and privet hedges that had enclosed the cemetery over the years. The gate plaque on South Park Street reads: “The Old Cemetery, 1823-1923.” Pioneer Cemetery was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1976. In 2008, the City of Greenville began working with the Pioneer Cemetery Preservation Association on much-needed restoration and repairs.

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Pioneer Cemetery?
Pioneer Cemetery is located at South Park Street Greenville, Butler County ,Alabama ,USA.
Pioneer Cemetery cemetery's updated grave count on graveviews.com?
3 memorials
Where are the coordinates of the Pioneer Cemetery?
Latitude: 31.8281002
Longitude: -86.6219025

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Nearby Cemetories:

1. Magnolia Cemetery
Greenville, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.8283005, -86.6371994

2. Sunrise Memorial Park
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Coordinate: 31.7964001, -86.6194000

3. Craig Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.7956009, -86.5935974

4. Rhodes Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.7875004, -86.6007996

5. Gravel Hill Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.7835999, -86.6278000

6. Lloyd Cemetery
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7. Hartley Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8719006, -86.6033020

8. Reddoch Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8186100, -86.6775100

9. Mount Ida Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.7798180, -86.6352830

10. Liberty United Methodist Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8160992, -86.6797028

11. New Bethel Christian Church Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8029490, -86.5681910

12. Giddens Chapel Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8505993, -86.6781006

13. Saint Paul Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8078003, -86.5594025

14. Mount Olive A.M.E. Zion Church Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8315040, -86.5503990

15. Antioch East Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8819008, -86.5832977

16. Pine Level Baptist Church Cemetery
Greenville, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.8272290, -86.6981460

17. William Seale Cemetery
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Coordinate: 31.8486004, -86.6986008

18. Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery
Liberty, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.8241080, -86.7047130

19. Fort Dale Cemetery
Greenville, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.8952999, -86.6549988

20. Central Baptist Church Cemetery
Greenville, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.7729800, -86.5643690

21. Beaver Creek Baptist Church Cemetery
Greenville, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.8090700, -86.7107430

22. Old Elam Baptist Church Cemetery
Greenville, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.7654480, -86.6776590

23. Pine Top Cemetery
Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.8896999, -86.6877975

24. Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery
Greenville, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 31.7809922, -86.5387394

Pioneer Cemetery

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Nearby Cemetories: