Old Beulah Cemetery

     Rev. Alexander Travis, a relative of infamous Alamo freedom fighter William Barrett Travis, founded Beulah Baptist Church in 1818. Although the church has long since disappeared, having been torn down in 1904 and moved out of the woods to a less remote location, the Old Beulah Cemetery remains. Located east of Evergreen, the cemetery rests on property known today as the Jay Villa Plantation.
     Many graves in the Old Beulah Cemetery are unmarked, but at least thirty-eight have headstones. One headstone bears the year 1804, and several date back to before the Civil War. Surrounding most of the graves are ornamental cast-iron fences, some of which came from Philadelphia ironworks owned by Robert Wood.
     Trailing down the sides of two tall marble monuments are intricately carved baskets of roses and other flowers. The Carrara marble, imported from Italy, showcases the stonecutter’s extraordinary skill and eye for minute detail. A closer look reveals that the talented carver even included fuzz upon the petals of the lilies of the valley.      Although many of the tombstones aren’t as elaborate as those imported from Italy, the box tombs, table monuments, and shafts are all evidence that the pioneers resting here had fairly prosperous families. Some of the monuments were furnished by J. Turner, a monument maker in Mobile.      One interesting monument in Old Beulah Cemetery marks the grave of Ezra Plumb. The marker was placed upon his grave by the “Friends of the Southland.” Plumb was an architect from Connecticut who constructed most of the fine early homes in Conecuh and Escambia Counties. He was noted for building homes with verandas and center breezeways commonly known as dog trots.

     A sad story surrounds the solitary grave that lies north to south, instead of the customary east to west. It is the story of a young lady who was engaged to marry Gideon B. Frierson. After learning of a yellow fever outbreak in Pensacola, Florida, Gideon slipped through the quarantine. Finally reach his fiancée, he persuaded her to return with him to Conecuh County. She agreed, and Gideon along with his future bride, slipped back through the quarantine. Unaware that she had already become infected, she died a few days after arriving at Gideon’s home near Beulah Church. Since no one knew she had secretly traveled there from Pensacola, her body was prepared for burial and the coffin carried to Old Beulah Cemetery, where she was buried at night. Today no one knows the young lady’s name and the headstone marking her grave is absent.

     Beautiful poetic epitaphs are inscribed on several of the tombstones found in Old Beaulah Cemetery. Two inscriptions are romantic goodbyes from husbands to cherished wives. Capt. Wilson Ashley wrote to wife, Mary Ann: “Farewell, dear wife, a short farewell, that we may meet again above, and rove where angels love to swell, where trees bear the fruits of love.” Henry Hunter remembered wife Elizabeth with a touching phrase: “We passed together our life on Earth, may we be together in eternity.”
     In the center of the cemetery, where Old Beulah Church once was, a tall, pillar-shaped monument marks the final resting place of Rev. Alexander Travis. Buried in 1852, his epitaph covers all four side of the gravestone. The location of the monument is exactly where he stood a century and a half ago, delivering powerful sermons from the pulpit. It almost seems the Reverend is still looking our over his congregation, even after his death.


Copied from: Booth, Donna J. Alabama Cemeteries : a Guide to Their Stories in Stone. Birmingham, Ala. Crane Hill Publishers, 1999. pp 109-111

Old Beulah Cemetery ~ Personal Descriptions

 “Old Beulah Church was located on an old road that used to lead from Brooklyn to Sparta. It ran from some place on the Chattahoochee River by Montezuma, Brooklyn, Sparta and on to Claiborne. This church was established in 1818 by Alexander Travis, who is buried in the cemetery in the church yard. He was pastor for 35 years. Beulah Church was in the Bethlehem Baptist Association. Rev. Andrew Jay succeeded the Rev. Alexander Travis as pastor of the church. In 1836 there was a membership of 137. The Church building first faced north and south. It had a petition (*partition) down the middle and there were two entrances. The east side of the church was used for white members and west side, or left side, for the colored people. This church was located on the plantation known as the “Hunter Plantation”. In 1904 the church building was given to the colored members, who tore it down and moved it to a more favorable location. The last white pastor was Rev. Jonathan Bell. In 1878, Rev. Andrew Jay was the white pastor and William Ferguson was the colored pastor.”

Oct. 4, 1938

E. Leigh McMillan

“Hosea Holcombe, when he wrote in 1840, said that Beulah was “one of the oldest, the largest, and most respectable churches. They had enjoyed precious seasons of revival. Even that early they had waded through difficulties and passed through trying scenes.” Rev. Travis lived not far away and a marble shaft is today at the pulpit end of where the church stood. Recounted on that shaft is that he was born in Edgefield District, S.C. on Aug. 23, 1790. He died in 1852. There are the tombs of the Hunter and Boykin families which later left there and are now seated in Wilcox County. Other families buried in the cemetery are the Ashleys and Millers. William G. Ashley was the head of that family. The Rev. Jay, who rests there, gave the name of the community which surrounded the old cemetery site. In Riley’s History, this locality is referred to as “Jay villa”. Buried there, not far from the Rev. Travis, is the Jay family. Perhaps the most noted of them was the Rev. Andrew Jay, born in the county Feb. 16, 1820. Rev. Alexander Travis was pastor at Beulah for 35 years and at Belleville for 32 years. He was moderator of the Bethlehem Assoc. for more than 20 consecutive times. He was chairman of the board of trustees of the Evergreen Academy. As early as 1821 he took over the pastorate of the Church of Brooklyn, a village then three years old.”

Peter A. Brannon

These personal descritptions are from the archived files in the Evergreen Public Library, Evergreen Alabama, title "Old Beulah Cemetery