History

Columbia’s Rose Hill Cemetery was established in 1853. Columbia’s first “city cemetery,” Greenwood, located on the banks of the Duck River, was full of rocks and graves. Columbia’s city fathers began looking for a new burying ground.

As luck would have it, Columbia’s sitting mayor, Meredith Helm, just happened to have some property on the outskirts south of town that he was willing to sell. Forty-acres of land were purchased and the cemetery was established in 1853. The first burial was of Alonzo Hodge. Hodge died in 1851 and had been interred in a small, family cemetery. When Rose Hill was established, his family purchased a large family plot and had young Alonzo reinterred in Rose Hill. Hodge would not be the last person disinterred and moved to Rose Hill. As Rose Hill became the fashionable place to be buried, many families had their loved ones moved to the new cemetery.

Izora Wilson was Rose Hill’s first true burial. She died during childbirth in May 1853 and she and her unnamed infant are buried in Block M of the cemetery. Her grave is adorned with an open Bible.

Since 1853, Rose Hill has, and continues to be, Columbia and Maury County’s premiere cemetery. Veterans of most all US wars, Revolutionary to modern-day, are interred in the cemetery, including a spy from the War of 1812 and a Confederate Brigadier General. Local, state, and national leaders are also buried in Rose Hill, including three US Senators. Rose Hill is even home to a famous horse racer and an early stockcar champion.

And burials continue today… If you and your family would like to be included in the ongoing history of Rose Hill Cemetery, call us and purchase a plot today!