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While traveling recently, I looked up tourist attractions to visit in Red Bay, Alabama. On the Internet I read about a dog cemetery, which was something of a tourist attraction in these parts. The Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Cemetery in northwest Alabama is worth the trip if you’re just passing through. I have never been to a dog cemetery before, nor have I ever owned this breed of dog. However, I have had dogs that were extremely dear to me. It is very true what they say that dogs are man’s best friend. For many, losing a dog is like losing a family member. It is moving to see this cemetery and the tribute to such beloved and dedicated hunting dogs. The first dog to be buried in this cemetery established by Key Underwood is his special friend and raccoon dog, Troop, on September 4, 1937, after more than fifteen years of hunting together. The Raccoon Dog Cemetery is the only one of its kind in the world, and only raccoon dogs (a raccoon dog is any dog trained to hunt raccoons) can be buried there.
The place where this faithful dog was buried was once a hunting camp where raccoon hunters from all over the area would gather. Underwood marked the grave with a rock into which he hand-carved Troop’s name and date, using only a hammer and screwdriver.
Other hunters began burying their raccoon dogs in the same cemetery where Troop was laid to rest. There are more than 185 dogs now, from all over the United States, buried in the cemetery. To my knowledge, the last raccoon buried in the cemetery was in 2015.
When I first started walking through the cemetery, my first impression was initially reminiscent of a “traditional graveyard” with engraved headstones. But the more I inspected this special cemetery, I found non-traditional headstones such as wooden slats with the name carved or burned into the wood, some of the headstones were rocks that had names carved into the stone with a hand chisel, others were made in House. concrete blocks where fingers in the once wet concrete wrote the inscription of their beloved dog.
Some of the graves in the cemetery have mementos of dogs at the burial sites, for example one has a stainless steel dog bowl, another has a dog collar and more than one has a dog leash on the headstone. I looked at all the graves as I walked and noticed the names of a few that were inscribed on the stones, including Easy Going Sam, Bean Blossom Bommer, Old Roy, Buck Shot, Squeak, and OL Lou. The headstones are engraved with heartfelt messages such as “Ashes of 3, Good Coon Hounds, Friend, and If he Treed in a mailbox you’d better open it and look because he have em.”
In addition to tombstones and keepsakes, the flowers that adorned the graves were everywhere as far as the eye could see. Knowing how much these raccoon dogs meant to their owners was truly moving, and it was evident in the sentiments etched on the headstones. If you are in this area, stop by to visit such a special cemetery, and don’t forget to sign the guest book. I did!