Fair Prospect Cemetery Montgomery County

Fair Prospect Cemetery occupies a hilltop in Montgomery County and was established in the 1840s as part of Fair Prospect Church. Benjamin Mitchell (1765-1848) and his wife Jane Scrimpton Mitchell (1775-1850) donated land for the church and cemetery, though the location of their graves is unknown. The earliest marked burials date to 1851, and the cemetery remains active. Justus M. Barnes, founder of Strata Academy, was a leader in the congregation, and his parents are buried there. In the 1870s, the church burned after being struck by lightning, and the congregation began meeting at Strata Academy. When the academy moved and became Highland Home College, the church kept the campus building on the site of Strata Church of Christ. After 1850, A.S. Naftel, founder of the Naftel Community, acquired much of the Mitchell land, and members of his family are buried in the cemetery.

Alabama · United States