Oleander Methodist Church Cemetery in Oleander, Alabama

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Get directions 253 Oleander Church Road
Oleander, Alabama, 35175 USA

Coordinates: 34.41570, -86.53180
Cemetery ID:

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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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Oleander's Cemetery has some of the oldest markers in the Arab area. Many graves are marked only with a sandstone rock or a box tomb and are without names or dates.

The land was set aside for a cemetery in 1868, however, the oldest marked graves predate that date. Zachariah Cooper born October 19, 1783 and died September 23, 1855 was buried there. Jane Young was buried in 1862 and John Brooks in 1863.

There were no stock laws in the early years of the settlement. Cows and other farm animals roamed at will. Large slabs of sandstone, the entire size of the grave, were built to sit up over the grave. This prevented animals from stepping on the grave and having it fall in from their weight. There were called box tombs. Oleander has more of this type of grave than any other cemeteries around Arab. These are believed to be the earliest graves. It was the practice many years long gone.

--Reprinted with permission from .