Alabama's Oldest Cemetery and the Dead Children's Playground
202 Maple Hill Street SE, Huntsville, AL 35801
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public access during daylight hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Mostly paved internal roads with rolling grass plots
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1822 · Oldest And Largest Cemetery In Alabama · Five Alabama Governors Buried · Five US Senators Buried · Confederate Section
Maple Hill Cemetery's original two acres were sold to the City of Huntsville on September 14, 1822, by planter LeRoy Pope, one of the founders of the town. The cemetery occupies a hilltop east of downtown Huntsville and has expanded across nearly a century to its current size of approximately 100 acres.
The cemetery's roster of notable burials includes five Alabama governors, five United States senators, members of the Alabama Confederate government, signers of the Alabama state constitution, and numerous Civil War officers. A significant Confederate section was developed during and after the war.
The site has been an active cemetery for more than two centuries and remains in operation today, owned by the City of Huntsville. Maple Hill draws steady visitation for its historic monuments, ironwork, and stained-glass mausoleum windows.
Adjacent to Maple Hill, on the site of the former Brahan Spring Quarry, sits a small playground locally known as the Dead Children's Playground. The quarry was active in the 19th century and supplied limestone for many of Huntsville's older buildings. After quarrying ceased, the depression filled in and the city established a playground on the site.
In 2007 the City of Huntsville moved to expand the cemetery into the adjacent park and removed the playground equipment. Local outcry led to the equipment being restored. Local newspapers and Huntsville's monthly Event Magazine covered both the removal and the restoration.
Sources
The Dead Children's Playground sits in a wooded depression at the western edge of Maple Hill Cemetery, separated by a thin tree line from the historic burial grounds. Local oral history and Huntsville newspaper features have collected paranormal reports at the playground since at least the 1970s.
The most consistent phenomenon is the sound of childlike laughter heard at dusk with no children present. A second cluster of reports concerns the swings moving on still days, with multiple swings sometimes moving in opposite directions. A third concerns apparitions of children observed running between the swings and the tree line. Photographs taken at the playground frequently include orb-like artifacts, which paranormal enthusiasts attribute to spirits and skeptics attribute to common camera-flash and dust phenomena.
The folklore connecting the playground to children buried at Maple Hill during the 1918 influenza pandemic is locally widespread. Maple Hill does contain a significant number of child burials from that period, but no historical documentation tying the playground specifically to those graves has been published; the connection is oral tradition.
Maple Hill itself, separate from the playground, attracts reports of standard Southern cemetery phenomena: figures in 19th-century dress observed near the older monuments, cold spots in the ironwork-enclosed family plots, and the sound of a woman crying in the older Confederate section. The cemetery is administered by the City of Huntsville, which does not host paranormal investigations on the property.
Notable Entities
Walk Alabama's largest cemetery, founded 1822 on a hilltop east of downtown Huntsville. The grounds contain the graves of five Alabama governors, five United States senators, and a substantial Confederate section. The adjacent Dead Children's Playground sits in a former limestone quarry next to the cemetery.
Walk the small public playground in the former Brahan Quarry adjacent to Maple Hill Cemetery. The playground equipment was restored after a 2007 removal controversy. Daytime visits only; the playground closes at dusk under Huntsville municipal ordinance.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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