Valhalla Cemetery

Cemetery in Birmingham, AL Brothers Jess and George Edwards built Valhalla Cemetery in the early 1900s. The Edwards family came from Brighton, England, and founded the city of Brighton, Ala., and built the first church in Brighton. Jess went to pre...

Cemetery in Birmingham, AL Brothers Jess and George Edwards built Valhalla Cemetery in the early 1900s. The Edwards family came from Brighton, England, and founded the city of Brighton, Ala., and built the first church in Brighton. Jess went to preparatory school in New York and was a pharmacist and legislator. In the course of his travels, he was impressed by Valhalla Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo., and built Valhalla Cemetery as an exact duplicate of the St. Louis Valhalla Cemetery. The cemetery office was built in 1927 for $30,000: an extravagant price for that era. When Jess died, the cemetery went to nephew Harry Edwards, and when Harry retired he brought in his son, Jesse, along with Jesse's wife, to run the cemetery. Jesse and his wife, Channon, continued to improve the cemetery, building a funeral home