The Covington City Cemetery is one of 10 other cemeteries located within the Covington city limits. The cemetery is located off Church Street in Covington. While thinking about the history of a cemetery may be considered morbid, its important to talk about the Covington City cemetery because it has one of the richest histories a cemetery can have.
The cemetery consists of five different sections; the first section is also the largest section. It is called the City section and is located in the center of the cemetery. You can contrast many of the graves in this section to see how styles changed in each century. Many of the 19th century graves obelisks and are Egyptian revival architecture. You can contrast these with those buried in the 20th century, which look like more modern headstones.
The next part is the Confederate section of the cemetery. It is located in the Northeast part. Most of the graves in this section are unmarked graves. This is because many of the people buried in this part were unknown.
The third part of the cemetery is historically the African American section. It is commonly referred to as the “Old Cemetery.” It is located in the Eastern Central section of the cemetery. This section has a lack of headstones. Instead, trees, plants or other landmarks were used to mark burials.
The fourth section is the “New Section.” This is also called the “Memorial Garden” and is located in the West central area. You may notice if you visit, that many children are buried throughout the cemetery. Many parents in the past often lost their children shortly after childbirth due to the maladies of the time.
The final section is the Old Methodist section located in the North West part of the cemetery. This section has the most recorded history. There are over one hundred and thirty four graves marked in this section. Sadly, there are many more unmarked graves. Most of the marked graves in this section are the graves of the pioneer families in Covington. These families are Brown, Reynolds, Pace, Usher, and Hendricks. Buried along with the pioneering families are many early Methodist ministers. One of these ministers is Andrew Hammil. He was the superintendent of the Madison and Covington churches until he died in 1836.
The combined total burials in all sections total over 3700. These burials include many people who influenced the history of the town of Covington. If you would like to learn more about these people, please stayed tuned for our Voices of the Past blog series.
