Marty Siebert portrays colorful Huntsville physician Dr. William H. Burritt during last month's Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll. Burritt died in 1955 and left his mountaintop estate to the city. (Bob Gathany/bgathany@al.com)
-- Two of Huntsville's most loved landmarks -- Maple Hill Cemetery and the Five Points neighborhood -- are now on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.
The National Park Service added Five Points and Maple Hill to the register in late August, but the Alabama Historical Commission just announced the news Monday afternoon.
According to a news release, city-owned Maple Hill Cemetery was recognized "for the important stories it tells about Huntsville's early settlement and social history, and its diverse gravestone designs."
Founded in 1822, Maple Hill is final resting place of five Alabama governors: Thomas Bibb, Clement C. Clay, Reuben Chapman, Robert M. Patton and David P. Lewis. The cemetery also illustrates the "broad spectrum" of early life in Alabama with markers and sections devoted to white, black, Jewish, Catholic and even Gypsy residents, the historical commission said. There is also a Potter's Field where unknown or indigent people are buried in unmarked graves.
Five Points resident Missy Miller walks her dog, Tebow, past a wintry version of the neighborhood's star symbol on Pratt Avenue following a snowfall in January 2010, (Eric Schultz | eschultz@al.com)
The adjoining Five Points neighborhood was one of Huntsville's first suburbs and became part of the city limits in the early 1890s. By 1901, the area was added to a streetcar line that ferried residents downtown or to the Merrimack and Lowe textile mills.
Historical Commission officials said many of the 472 buildings in Five Points are "historically connected to the life of cotton mill workers." The neighborhood boasts a wide variety of architectural styles including Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, bungalow and Ranch.
Nominated for the National Register because of its late 19th century neighborhood plan, Five Points "continually evolved during the 20th century as Huntsville's cotton mills thrived," the news release said. "The Depression briefly halted growth, but housing construction resumed during Huntsville's Cold War and Space Race expansion in the 1940-60s."
Bert Peake, president of the Five Points Historic District Association, said he anticipates the National Register listing will help lure more families to the neighborhood and nudge homes prices higher.
"Anything that further stabilizes the neighborhood is going to increase property values, without a doubt," Peake said Tuesday.
Five Points was designated a local historic district several years ago, meaning new construction, exterior changes and demolition requests must be OK'd by the city Historic Preservation Commission. The National Register listing doesn't add any more regulations, said Peake, and may allow federal tax breaks for residential remodeling projects.
The National Register of Historic Places
is America's official list of historic places worthy of preservation. The Alabama Historical Commission administers the program in Alabama.
More than 80,000 properties across the U.S. have been added to the register since its inception in 1966. Madison County has a number of sites on the list, including the Courthouse Square, the Big Spring, parts of Alabama A&M University, Dallas Mill, Church of the Nativity, Hotel Russel Erskine, the New Market Historic District and the neutral buoyancy tank at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
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