Batesville Magnolia Cemetery was established before the Civil War on land donated by local citizen Mrs. Cypressa C. Vance Rootes (1816-1881) for use as a public burial ground. Its earliest recorded grave dates to the 1840s. Those buried there include Rev. J.W. Bates (1821-1900), for whom Batesville is named, former Mississippi governor Cliff Finch (1927-1986), and numerous veterans. The cemetery also includes more than 1,400 unmarked burials, including the graves of many victims of the 1878 yellow fever epidemic.