Isaac Nettles Gravestones

Isaac Nettles Gravestones
Marker for "Mother" Cora Nettles
Isaac Nettles Gravestones is located in Alabama
Isaac Nettles Gravestones
Nearest cityCarlton, Alabama
Coordinates31°20′47″N 87°52′5″W / 31.34639°N 87.86806°W / 31.34639; -87.86806
Arealess than one acre
ArchitectNettles, Issac Sr.
MPSClarke County MPS
NRHP reference No.00000141[1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 24, 2000

The Isaac Nettles Gravestones are four unusual headstones in the Mount Nebo Baptist Church Cemetery near Carlton in rural Clarke County, Alabama.[2][3] Surveyed for the National Register of Historic Places' Clarke County Multiple Property Submission, they were added to the register on February 24, 2000.[1][2]

History[edit]

Mount Nebo Baptist Church, a traditionally African American Baptist church, was established in the 19th century. The four Nettles markers are made of concrete and feature death masks, presumed by scholars to be of the people whose graves they mark. The gravestone of note are of Angel Ezella Nettles (death 1940), Selena (sometimes spelled Celina) Nettles (1800s–January 1940), Korean (sometimes spelled Cora) Nettles (January 1859–July 6, 1933), and Manul Burell (?–August 9, 1946).[2] The marker for Selena Nettles was greatly damaged in 1979 during Hurricane Frederic, and what once displayed her upper torso, is now only a gravestone base.[4]

They are attributed to Isaac "Ike" Nettles, a local man who created them between 1933 and 1946. When surveyed in 2000 the markers had not weathered well, with only the most ornate one, with three individual masks on one marker, in good condition.[5]

  • Single concrete gravestone with female face
    Marker for Ezella Nettles, inscribed with "Angel" and "Sis Dollie"
  • Broken single concrete gravestone with male face
    Broken marker for Manul Burell, died 1946

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Nettles, Isaac, Gravestones". National Park Service. Retrieved February 17, 2023. With accompanying pictures
  3. ^ Kazek, Kelly (October 18, 2018). "17 fascinating Alabama cemeteries and monuments of national significance". al.com. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  4. ^ Brown, Alan (2019). Eerie Alabama: Chilling Tales from the Heart of Dixie. Arcadia Publishing. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-4671-4167-3.
  5. ^ "Clarke County MPS". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Retrieved February 26, 2011.

External links[edit]

Media related to Isaac Nettles Gravestones at Wikimedia Commons

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