Greenwood Cemetery / Cove Haven Cemetery (Lexington, KY)
(start date: May 15, 1907)Greenwood Cemetery and Realty Company 1907-1942
This second-oldest burial site in Lexington, KY was organized and managed by African Americans Edward Chenault, Jordan C. Jackson, Jr., William H. Ballard, John E. Hunter, Henry A. Tandy, Marshall T. Clay, Robert F. Bell, John B. Caulder, Pherril L Parrish, Zachariah H. Jones, Samuel Underwood, Charles H. Yancey, George Russell, and Henry Turner.
They formed a stock company with an initial offering of 1,225 shares at ten dollars per share to finance the Greenwood Cemetery and Realty Company. They filed Articles of Incorporation in Lexington May 15, 1907 and with the Secretary of State on June 28, 1907.[1]
The cemetery was formed from lots number 14 and 15 of the Bradley Subdivision, which was platted in 1907. At the time, the development was just outside the city limits.[2] R.H. Tacklin, a landscape architect, was hired to design and landscape the 16 acres prior to its official opening May 3, 1908.[3]
Greenwood Cemetery 1942-1984
By resolution in 1942, 'the Realty Company' was dropped from its official name. The annual meeting was changed from the third Monday in May to the third Tuesday in January.[4]
Cove Haven Cemetery 1985 to present
In 1985, the corporation reorganized when they filed as a Kentucky non-profit under the name Cove Haven Cemetery. [5]
Organizers are listed on a tablet at the right of the front gate.
The Cemetery holds the remains of:
Ellen Davis and Margaret Pryor, millionaires
Morgan and Marvin Smith, photographers
Atlas C. Burnett, agriculture extension agent
Dr. Mary Ellen Britton, Dr. Thomas T. Wendell, Dr. William Henry Ballard, Dr. William Dinwiddie, Dr. John Knox Polk, Dr. John E. Hunter, Dr. Harriet Marble, and other medical professionals
Bell Jackson and other founders, organizers, and trustees of the Colored Orphan HomeOfficers and members of the original Agriculture and Mechanical Fair of Colored People and its successor, the Lexington Colored Fair
Raleigh Colston, Jr., Marshall Lilly, Courtney Mathews, William Perkins, John Henry Buckner, and others who were jockeys, trainers, stud grooms, and owners of thoroughbreds
Whitney Young, Sr., President of Lincoln Institute
Henry A. Tandy, Horace R. Hogan, and others who were building contractors
Green P. Russell, Henry L. Graves, John B. Caulder, Sadie Yancey, Paul V. and Lucy H. Smith, and other educators
Ministers of all denominations
Entrepreneurs/Business owners
John B. Snowden, E.L. Cunningham, postal service employees
Saunders “Smoke” Richardson, Ruby L. King, Georgia Barkley Gomez, Charles Quillings, and other musicians and vocalists
Over 500 male and female military veterans from the Civil War to the Gulf War
Owned and managed by a volunteer board, the cemetery is still accepting burials. The hours of operation year-round are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
REFERENCES
[1] Kentucky Articles of Incorporation. June 28, 1907. Greenwood Cemetery and Realty Company. Book 33, 365, Box 225, Bundle 13.
[2] Bradley Subdivision. February 23, 1907. Plat Book #1, 145. Fayette County Clerk.
[3] Lexington Leader. April 19, 1908. Greenwood Cemetery: New Burying Ground for Colored People of Lexington & Vicinity.
[4] Articles of Incorporation. January 20, 1942. Greenwood Cemetery. Book 14, 593, 594. Fayette County Clerk.
[5] Articles of Incorporation. September 12, 1985. Cove Haven Cemetery. Book 130, 526,527. Fayette County Clerk.
Submitted September 15, 2021
Revised December 1, 2021
By Yvonne Giles
See also Yvonne Giles, "African American Burials: Fayette County’s Storied Past," Ace Magazine, 4/26/2007.