Knesses Israel Cemetery
It is OK to drive into this cemetery. The gates are very narrow because cars were small when improvements were made. The cemetery is a bit difficult to get to because it is cut off from the interstate. If using your GPS for navigation the address is 320 11th Court North. Another cache is across the street in the other cemetery. Have fun and remember this is a daylight only cache and the cache is not in the cemetery, but close to the perimeter.
The cemetery was established in 1890 with land donated by Temple Emanu-El, an already established congregation that was founded by immigrants from Germany. Temple Emanu-El has an even older cemetery across the street.
Jewish immigrants buried in this cemetery came from Eastern Europe. They fled places such as the Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia to escape persecution. It seems the escape from the old country was somewhat of a repeat of biblical times when Pharaoh held the Jewish people in slavery in Egypt.
Since the 1950s, most Jewish burials have been in Jewish sections of Elmwood cemetery. But once in awhile there is a burial in this old cemetery, which still has a few open plots.
Louis Pizitz who is buried here arrived in America from Poland in 1889 and worked as a peddler in Georgia. He came to Birmingham in 1896 and opened a store downtown in 1898 that became the Pizitz Department Store. The Pizitz chain was sold to McRae's in 1986. Many other Jewish store and shop owners are buried here. A lot of Jews came here knowing about U.S. Steel, and that there was going to be people buying goods. They played a major role in the building of Birmingham and had a lot to do with it becoming "The Magic City".
Birmingham, for the Jewish people buried here became another Promised Land. Some say you are walking on true "Hallowed Ground" in this cemetery.