The People in Maple Hill Cemetery (continued)
If you stroll the grounds, you may find some of these famous and infamous people, a few animals, beautiful monuments, and several mausoleums:
Famous, Infamous, and Colorful Characters
1. Adalaide Eugene Bankhead (1880-1902) was married to U. S. Congressman William B. Bankhead and died two weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, Tallulah Bankhead.
2. Anne Bradshaw Clopton (1878-1956) was a Huntsville school teacher for 48 years and active in Girl Scout work. She became famous for her paintings of landscapes, portraits, flowers and historical sites on cobwebs. Her work can be seen at the Smithsonian and the Burritt Museum.
3. Lena Mitchell (1906-1959) was a palmist and is buried along the California side of the cemetery. Her funeral was attended by hundred of gypsies who participated in the ancient gypsy burial rites. Stories persist of the burial earlier in the century of a Gypsy Queen, but her grave has not been found.
4. Mollie Teal (1852-1899) was a popular madam who willed her property to the city. Her house became the first city hospital from 1904-26.
5. Maria Howard Weeden (1847-1905) was an internationally known poet and artist known for her portraits of the black family servants interspersed with verses about plantation life. Her home is now Weeden House Museum on Gates Street.
6. Virginia Clay-Clopton (1823-1915) was married to U. S. Senator Clement Claiborne Clay and to Judge David Clopton. She wrote "A Belle of the Fifties," an account of her life in Washington, DC and was active in the formation of the Huntville Chapter of the U.D.C.
7. Chef Jessup Whitehead (1833-1889) was born in London, England and was the "Chef de Cuisine" of Hotel Monte Sano and author of numerous cookbooks.
8. Albert A. Baker (1828-1901) was a native of New York. Many of the beautiful monuments in Maple Hill were produced in his shop, founded in 1851, on the west side of Washington Street near the Square.
9. Stephen Neal (1773-1839) was the first sheriff of Huntsville. His house has been recreated in Constitutional Village in downtown Huntsville.
10. George Gilliam Steee (1798-1855) was an architect and builder. He is credited with the introduction of the Greek Revival style of homes to Huntsville. He designed the First Alabama Bank (1837), the 2nd Madison County Courthouse, and many residences, including his country estate, "Oak Place" on Maysville Road.
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