Scout Troop 25, Old Autauga Historical Society partner to preserve early settler cemetery

From Larry Caver, President

Old Autauga Historical Society

On Saturday, Sept 27, 2025, members of Scout Troop 25 and volunteers from the Old Autauga Historical Society gathered at the old Livingston Family Cemetery on Red Eagle Road in Prattville to take part in an Eagle Scout Project for troop member Landon Hensley. The project has been several months in the making. The goal of the project was to install a split rail fence system around the small cemetery, similar to the one that used to be there years ago. 

The project involved clearing undergrowth, vines, and debris from the cemetery, hauling in and leveling dirt in low spots, digging holes for posts, assembling a split rail system, and laying out pine straw. 

Project supplies were funded by the Old Autauga Historical Society (OAHS) and Prattville Home Depot. Specifically, OAHS member Bertha Strock Little has made significant donations to the Old Autauga Historical Society over the past few years in hopes that this old cemetery could be preserved and restored. She is a descendant of Robert T. Livingston (Livingston), the patriarch of said family in Central Alabama.

OAHS volunteers who helped at the event were Larry E. Caver, Blake Dickinson, John Dennis, Beth DeBusk, and David Whitehead. Previous to this year, members of the Atagi DAR Chapter came and cleaned the old grave monuments. 

Robert T. Livingston registered his first land grant for 160 acres for the property where the cemetery and his old home place was located in March 1819, nine months prior to Alabama becoming a state. The family was among the early settlers of Autauga County, Alabama Territory. He and his wife, Rachel Whetstone Levingston, immigrated to the area from South Carolina once the Indian lands in this area opened up for settlement. 

The cemetery was added to the State Historic Cemetery register on July 24, 2025. The oldest marked grave is for Sarah Levingston, daughter of Robert and Rachel, who died in 1829. The Old Autauga Historical Society hopes to secure donations or funding in the future to have a roadside historic marker installed for this special historic gem of Old Autauga County.