Forrest Cemetery Chapel – Gadsden AL

Description

“FORREST CEMETERY CHAPEL, inside the main gate of Forrest Cemetery, W. side of 15th St. between Walnut and Chestnut Sts., was constructed as a WPA project. It was built by 20 workers who were unskilled at the beginning in this work but who completed it as trained stonemasons. Modeled after an English parish church of the twelfth century, the chapel has been appraised at $25,000, yet the total cost of materials was relatively small. Cement and windows were the only materials purchased; light fixtures, woodwork, and hardware came from WPA woodshops, and stone from a near-by quarry. The doors and interior appointments are handmade and the roof is of sandstone shingles cut to size by hand. In the cemetery, which is owned and maintained by the city, are graves of many Confederate veterans, each marked by an iron Maltese cross.” (WPA Guide)

The chapel bears a plaque: “Built by Works Progress Administration 1935 – 1936”; a cornerstone reads 1936.