Spring Hill Cemetery (Huntington, West Virginia)

Spring Hill Cemetery
Details
Established	1874
Location	1427 Norway Ave, Huntington, West Virginia 25705
Owned by	Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District
Size	110 acres
No. of graves	+80,000
Website	Official website
Find a Grave	Spring Hill Cemetery

Spring Hill Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Huntington, West Virginia. Established in 1874, Spring Hill Cemetery's oldest grave is dated 1838, with the first official burial being 1873.[1][2]

Notable burials

The Southern Airways Flight 932 memorial at Spring Hill Cemetery in 2006.

• 1861 - Albert G. Jenkins, former United States House of Representatives
• 1875 - Peter Cline Buffington, first mayor of Huntington, West Virginia
• 1886 - Charles B. Hoard, former United States House of Representatives
• 1900 - Eustace Gibson, former Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates
• 1905 - Delos W. Emmons, co-founder of Huntington, West Virginia
• 1930 - James A. Hughes, former United States House of Representatives
• 1940 - Eloise Hughes Smith, 1912 RMS Titanic disaster survivor[3]
• 1954 - Skeeter Shelton, former Major League Baseball Outfielder
• 1959 - Will E. Neal, former United States House of Representatives

The Marshall Plane Crash

In 1970, the Southern Airways Flight 932 was carrying 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, eight members of the coaching staff, 25 boosters, two pilots, two flight attendants, and a charter coordinator.[4] The team was returning home after a 17–14 loss to the East Carolina Pirates at Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina.[5] A mass funeral was held at the field house and many of the dead were buried at the Spring Hill Cemetery, some together because bodies were not identifiable.[6][7]

Popular culture

One of the final scenes of We Are Marshall took place next to the Southern Airways Flight 932 memorial, as the team went into their first game after the crash.[8]

References

1. "CEMETERIES". Greater Huntington Parks and Recreation District. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
2. Casto, James. "Spring Hill Cemetery, Huntington". The West Virginia Encyclopedia.
3. Harrison, Heath (August 9, 2023). "FOCUS: A survivor's story". Ironton Tribune. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
4. "Plane crash devastates Marshall University". History.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
5. Withers, Bob (December 19, 2006). "The story of the 1970 Marshall Plane Crash". The Herald-Dispatch. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
6. Withers, Bob (December 19, 2006). "The story of the 1970 Marshall Plane Crash". The Herald-Dispatch. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
7. Bianchi, Mike (12 November 2000). "People have not forgotten Marshall Crash 30 years ago". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 12 November 2020. Identifying the bodies was an almost impossible task because the explosion tore them apart and the fire burned them to bits. Six victims never were identified, and today their bodies are buried in adjoining graves next to a monument at Spring Hill Cemetery, which overlooks Marshall's campus.
8. Holtz, Hannah (December 6, 2023). "The Heartbreaking Story Behind The Marshall University Plane Crash, The 'Worst Sports-Related Air Tragedy In U.S. History'". All that is Interesting. Retrieved October 28, 2024.