Jennifer Dawn McGinnis is remembering Coon Dogs that have passed with HerDog
Charlie at Key Underwood Memorial Coon Dog Graveyard Cemetery.
(1st stop yesterday -Sunday. A different kind of Cemetery)
Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery-Cherokee Alabama
The ONLY one in the World Like it! Specifically for Coon Dogs.
The ONLY one in the World Like it! Specifically for Coon Dogs.
THIS is the Real "Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery"!!
I went out of the way 12 miles thru the VERY rural parts of Alabama thru the mountains and another 5 miles Up the Mountian to get to this very very remote place. It's located on an old hunting camp pine bluff known as "Sugar Creek" that is now part of the Freedom Hills Wildlife Management Area near the Natchez Trace.
The Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery was started back in 1937. There are now over 300 Coon Dogs buried here.
The cemetery was established on September 4, 1937 by man named, Key Underwood, who buried his coon dog, "Troop" here after he passed away. A year later, his brother's Coon Dog passed away and he was buried her also, and it was started..
Key Underwood had no intentions of starting a cool dog cemetery, but wanted to bury "Troop" in a place the dog had liked. He'd had "Troop" for 15 years. His brother buried his Coon Dog here and other hunters followed his example when their Coon dogs died, and gradually the cemetery came into being.
The entrance is marked by a statue of two coonhounds treeing a raccoon. (You see a replica of this statue in the scene of "Sweet Home Alabama" -Screen shot a pic).
Dogs must meet 3 requirements to qualify for burial at the cemetery: the owner must certify that their dog is a purebred coonhound, a witness must declare that the deceased is a coon dog that has been hunting, and a member of the local coonhunters' organization must be allowed to view the coonhound's body and certify it to be purebred. (Mixed breeds or pet dogs are not allowed to be buried in the graveyard).
Headstones in the cemetery range from homemade wooden and metal monuments to more elaborate marble engraved stones.
It is the only cemetery in the world specifically dedicated to coonhounds.
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