Wilcox County's Enon Baptist Church Cemetery at Fatama added to Alabama Historic Cemetery Register

Grave of Josephine Mims.

Last year, the Alabama Historical Commission added 72 cemeteries to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register, including one cemetery from Wilcox County.

The Historic Cemetery Register is the state’s official list of historic cemeteries in Alabama. The Alabama Historical Commission considers historic cemeteries of this type particularly worthy of preservation and therefore deserving of the special recognition of being placed on the Historic Register. The register is updated annually.

The most recent Wilcox County cemetery to be added to the register is the Enon Baptist Church Cemetery, which was added on Jan. 29, 2021. This cemetery and church are located in the Fatama community, on State Highway 265, about four miles north of the Monroe County line. Records reflect that the church was founded in June 1853, and known burials in the cemetery also date back to around that same time.

Like many in the reading audience, I have been to the Enon Baptist Church Cemetery many times before. Just eye-balling it, I’d say this historic cemetery contains about 300 graves, and the oldest marked grave that I could find belongs to Josephine Mims. She died in May 1855, just a few weeks after her first birthday.

One of the oldest military graves in the cemetery is that of Frank Anton Lambrecht, who died in 1862 during the War Between the States. He was born in 1844 and served as a private in Co. C of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment. It would be interesting to know just how, when and where he died during the war.

The Fatama community’s namesake is also said to be buried in this cemetery, but I have never been able to find her grave. According to church records, the Fatama post office for many years was the only post office in what was then called the Mims Beat. It was named the Fatama post office after the wife of Capt. John J. Mims, who was Mrs. Fatama Mims, who, like her husband, was buried in the Enon Cemetery.

Geographically speaking, the Enon Cemetery is probably also the highest cemetery in the entire county. The cemetery is located a short distance south of the old fire tower located near the intersection of Highway 265 and County Road 51. This tower is located on the highest point in the county, with an official elevation of 547 feet above sea level.

In addition to the Enon Cemetery, there are 10 other Wilcox County cemeteries listed on the state’s historic cemetery register. The Creagh-Glover Cemetery was the first Wilcox County cemetery added to the register, being placed there in 1991. The Dulaney Cemetery was added in 2003, the McIntosh Cemetery was added in 2004 and the Camden Cemetery was added in 2008.

The Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery was added to the register in 2012, and the Bear Creek Baptist Church Cemetery was added in 2013. The Gravel Creek Baptist Church Cemetery was added in 2015. The Henry Young Family Cemetery and the McWilliams Cemetery were added in 2017, and the Snow Hill Slave Cemetery was added in 2019.

In the end, by my count, there are at least 200 known cemeteries in Wilcox County, and many of them are just as noteworthy as those mentioned above. The Alabama Cemetery Register is updated annually, and I would expect even more Wilcox County cemeteries to be added to the list by this time next year.