| Oakwood Cemetery | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Oakwood_Cemetery_Montgomery_Feb_2012_05.jpg) Confederate graves at Oakwood | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Established | 1819 |
| Location | 829 Columbus Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36104 |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 32°23′04″N 86°17′41″W / 32.38444°N 86.29472°W |
| Find a Grave | Oakwood Cemetery |
Oakwood Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Montgomery, Alabama.[1] Strictly speaking, it is two cemeteries: Oakwood itself, which is owned by the city, and the next-door Oakwood Cemetery Annex, the location of the Hank Williams Memorial and the graves of four governors of Alabama. The annex was in private hands until its owner died in 2004 without directing to whom the property should pass; ownership of which thus passed to the state of Alabama, although it has been maintained by the city since 2009 and a proposal was put forward in 2013 to transfer ownership to the city.[2][3]
Partly sandwiched in between the two is the St Margaret's Cemetery owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile.[4] Until 2017, the Archdiocese had been accidentally burying Catholics on city property since 1863, the deeds to St Margaret's having been drawn up in the 1850s and the error not having been spotted in the 1863, 1945, or 1981 extensions; only when the records were checked for a fourth extension was the error discovered and rectified.[4]
In 2017 the Archdiocese swapped some of its land, on which the city had similarly placed an access road running on what had theretofore been thought to be city property in between the Archdiocesan and Annex cemeteries, for the city land that it had inadvertently been using. By redrawing the boundaries between the Archdiocesan and city property, St Margaret's was expanded to cover 7.512 acres (3.040 ha), returning existing gravesites to Catholic-owned land without the need for re-interment.[4]
The cemeteries are accessed from Upper Wetumpka Road, with three entrances for Oakwood proper, St Margaret's, and the Annex in order along that road in the direction from the intersection of Ripley Street and Jefferson Street.[4][5] They are close to Montgomery Police Station.[6]