Problems of neglect, ownership confusion linger at historic Lincoln Cemetery

Annie Alloway, who died in January at the age of 76, wanted to be laid to rest with her mother and other members of her fami­ly.

When her family and friends huddled together at Lincoln Cemetery to pay their final re­spects to the woman who had en­tertained them so often with her jokes and stories, they saw tears, respect and love. They did not see the three large garbage bags of trash that Alloway’s nephew, Autry Bostick, spent hours picking up before her service.

“I didn’t want them to see trash all around like that,” said Bostick, a 57-year-old who once lived in Montgomery but now lives in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Most say conditions at Lin­coln Cemetery are actually bet­ter today than in past years, but that isn’t saying much. There are worse troubles than litter plaguing Montgomery oldest commercial cemetery for Afri­can-Americans.

When human bones are visi­ble because of broken concrete slabs and there is no one track­ing who is buried there, litter becomes a minor issue.

Lincoln Cemetery has long been one of Montgomery’s most notorious mysteries. Although privately owned, for years no one has acknowledged owning the cemetery. If the city, family members and volunteer groups did not periodically maintain the property, no one would.

Yet the burials continue.

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