The Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs (ADVA) will move forward with a plan to expand the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort after receiving a $5 million grant from the National Cemetery Administration.

The grant is through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Cemetery Grants Program and will fund the first of 10 planned expansions of the cemetery that will serve Alabama Veterans for the next 100 years.

The expansion will add 2,762 pre-placed vault sites (casket sites), 960 Columbarium niches (above-ground urn sites), 800 in-ground urn sites, and a memorial wall that will include 100 sites. Updates to roadways, storm drainage, irrigation, and other expansion infrastructure are also included.

“We want to thank the National Cemetery Administration for approving the grant that allows us to finalize plans for the second phase of the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort,” ADVA Commissioner Kent Davis said. “The cemetery is a beautiful and solemn place for our Veterans and their family members, and we look forward to continual improvements with this project. ADVA serves all Alabama Veterans from when they take off their uniform for the last time through eternity, and though death is never an easy topic, we want to guarantee Alabama’s heroes receive the resting place they’ve earned when that day does come.”

Construction is expected to begin in August or September 2022 with completion expected within one year of start date.

The Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort sits on 107 acres of land in Baldwin County. The cemetery was dedicated in December 2012 and began interments in April 2013. The initial phase of the cemetery is 22.8 acres and has 2,776 burial sites (2,392 in-ground). The second phase of the cemetery will add an additional 6 acres to the cemetery. Expansions are planned for every 10 years.

More information on the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery is available by calling (251) 625-1338 or by clicking here.