Old Bryce Cemetery
This is the oldest of four historic cemeteries located on the campus of Bryce Hospital, Alabama's oldest mental health facility. The first recorded burial dates to 1861. While only a few graves are currently marked, it is estimated that thousands of individuals are buried here. Bryce Hospital is one of the most historic and architecturally significant public institutions in the U.S. Established in 1852 at the height of the psychiatric reform movement known as "moral treatment," the hospital was among the first mental health facilities in the country to employ architectural design and a pastoral setting as essential components in the treatment of mental illness. Through Wyatt v. Stickney, the landmark federal lawsuit initiated in 1971, Bryce Hospital became the center of the civil rights movement for people who experience mental illness.
Listed in the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.
Marker is on Jack Warner Parkway Northeast south of McFarland Blvd East (U.S. 82), on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
