Mount Paran Campground and Cemetery

NEW MARKET, ALABAMA

“A holy place: symbol of eternity, strength, and stability within the wilderness.”

One of the earliest known Cumberland Presbyterian campgrounds in Madison County, Mount Paran Cemetery is the resting place for many of the county’s pioneer settlers, with the earliest surviving grave stone dated 1826. Originally this six acre site was bequeathed to Mount Paran Presbyterian Church of New Market in 1842 by Samuel Davis. A division within the congregation in 1906 resulted in the dissolution of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at New Market in 1914, and some of its members joined neighboring congregations. With the decline of its use, Mount Paran Cemetery became known as “Graveyard Hill.”

ALABAMA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION – 1989

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Today Mount Paran Cemetery comprises 3.77 acres; approximately 400 grave sites may be found of which 135 have markers remaining. Revolutionary War veterans Samuel Davis and Moses Poor are buried here, along with their families, as well as those of Isaac Criner and John Miller. Records indicate the burial of a number of early pioneers, farmers, servants, merchants, physicians, educators, ministers, public officials, veterans of major wars, and those whose good works may be known only to God.

ALABAMA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION – 1989