Coon Dog Cemetery in Alabama: Our Unexpected RV Road Trip Detour

Some of our favorite stops while traveling are the ones we never planned to make.

We were driving our motorhome from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Huntsville, Alabama, when we passed through Cherokee on US 72. Along the side of the highway, I noticed a sign pointing toward Coon Dog Cemetery.

“Awe!” I said as we drove past.

Lisa looked over. “What?”

“There was a sign for Coon Dog Cemetery.”

That probably should have been the end of it.

It wasn’t.

A mile or so down the road, Lisa looked it up and told me the Coon Dog Cemetery was connected to the movie Sweet Home Alabama.

“We should go check it out.”

And that’s how a simple drive to Huntsville turned into one of the most memorable detours.

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Turning Around a 60-Foot RV Combination

Turning around isn’t exactly a casual decision when you’re driving a 38-foot motorhome with a Ford Bronco being flat-towed behind it.

Together, we’re roughly 60 feet long, and backing up isn’t an option without first disconnecting the Bronco.

But I found somewhere to turn around and headed a couple of miles back west on US 72.

As we approached the turn, I asked Lisa the question I probably should have asked before making the U-turn.

“How far is it?”

“About 12 miles.”

Ugh.

“That’s too far.”

We passed the road and once again found somewhere to turn the motorhome around so we could continue east toward Huntsville.

Coon Dog Cemetery had officially lost its chance.

Or so I thought.

A little farther down US 72, we saw another Coon Dog Cemetery sign.

Lisa looked at the map and said, “We should do it. It’s probably a loop.”

Fine.

I made the turn onto County Rd 247.

Coon Dog Cemetery, here we come.

This Might Not Have Been an RV-Friendly Detour

It didn’t take very long before I started questioning our decision.

Coon Dog Cemetery Road is a narrow lane and a half, winding road through the hills. The posted speed limit might have been 45 mph, but there was absolutely no chance we were doing anywhere close to that in our 38-foot motorhome.

Curve after curve, we slowly worked our way toward the cemetery with the Bronco still behind us.

Then we came around a bend and found a road crew finishing up clearing a tree that had fallen across the road.

That got my attention.

Had we arrived a little earlier while the tree was still blocking the road, we would have had a problem.

A pretty big one.

We couldn’t simply back our motorhome and Bronco down the winding road. I would have had to get out, disconnect the Bronco, and then somehow back the motorhome down the road until we could find enough room to turn around.

Thankfully, the crew had just about finished clearing the tree, and we were able to continue, with the crew waving at us as we passed by.

At that point, we were committed.

Looking at the route on our Garmin pretty much tells the story. That purple line has a whole lot more curves in it than I generally like to see while driving our motorhome. We use an RV-specific Garmin for navigating the motorhome because it lets us enter our rig’s size and weight when planning routes. If you’re looking for one, we’ve put together a comparison of the Garmin RV GPS models and which one we recommend.

RV TIP: The road to Coon Dog Cemetery wasn’t terrible in our 38-foot motorhome towing the Bronco, but it definitely wouldn’t be my first choice of roads for a rig our size. There are plenty of curves, and we took our time getting there. If you’re visiting in a large RV, just know what you’re getting into and don’t expect to maintain the posted speed limit through some of those turns.

This little adventure was also a good reminder of why we normally plan our motorhome routes ahead of time. We’ve used RV LIFE Trip Wizard since 2020 to plan our RV travels and help us find routes that are appropriate for our motorhome. Of course, Trip Wizard can’t help much when you spot a Coon Dog Cemetery sign along the highway and decide at the last minute that you have to go see it!

We Actually Made It to Coon Dog Cemetery

Eventually we reached the entrance.

There isn’t exactly a big RV parking lot waiting for you.

We pulled off on the opposite side of the road near the entrance, put on the hazard lights, and temporarily blocked one of the driveways. Fortunately, it was a nice straight stretch of road with good visibility in both directions.

Seeing our entire motorhome and Bronco sitting beside the little Coon Dog Cemetery sign made me laugh.

After all the U-turns and debating whether this side trip was worth it, we had actually made it.

And I’m glad we did.

What Is the Coon Dog Cemetery?

Its official name is the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, and its story goes back to 1937.

Key Underwood was a local hunter whose beloved coonhound, Troop, had been his hunting companion for about 15 years. When Troop died, Underwood decided to bury him at one of their favorite hunting camps in the hills of northwest Alabama.

On September 4, 1937, Troop became the first dog buried here.

Other hunters eventually began burying their coonhounds at the same location, and what started as one man’s tribute to his hunting companion grew into a cemetery containing hundreds of coonhounds.

Today, more than 350 dogs are reportedly buried here. The cemetery is located in the Freedom Hills Wildlife Management Area and is overseen by the Tennessee Valley Coon Hunters Association.

One of the signs at the cemetery makes its purpose very clear:

Only coonhounds are allowed to be buried here.

And getting buried here isn’t simply a matter of having a pet coonhound. The Tennessee Valley Coon Hunters Association must verify that the dog was an authentic coon dog that actually hunted raccoons.

That’s something I didn’t realize when we pulled in.

This isn’t simply a novelty pet cemetery.

There’s a genuine tradition behind it.

The Headstones Were the Best Part

We probably spent 30 to 40 minutes wandering around the cemetery.

What struck us most was how different all the grave markers were.

Some were professionally carved granite monuments.

Others were pieces of stone.

Some were handmade wooden markers with names painted or carved into them.

The names alone made it interesting to wander around:

Old Red.

High Pocket.

Crooked Oak Ann.

Easy Going Sam.

And plenty of others.

Some of these dogs were champions. Others were simply treasured hunting companions whose owners wanted them remembered.

The cemetery contains everything from homemade wooden and natural-stone markers to professionally made granite headstones. Several champion coon dogs have been buried here over the years.

But walking among them, the titles and awards weren’t what really stood out.

It was obvious that these dogs mattered to somebody.

A Place Created Because Someone Loved His Dog

That’s probably what made the stop resonate with Lisa and me.

We’ve loved our dogs tremendously over the years, so we understand how much a dog can become part of your life.

Coon hunting isn’t part of our world, but you don’t have to be a coon hunter to understand what this place represents.

Key Underwood wasn’t trying to create a tourist attraction when he buried Troop here in 1937.

He was saying goodbye to a dog that had spent 15 years hunting alongside him.

Other people understood that feeling.

They began bringing their dogs here too.

And almost 90 years later, people like us are still driving into the Alabama hills to see the place.

The large monument near the cemetery depicts two coonhounds treeing a raccoon and marks the site as the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, started September 4, 1937.

It seems fitting that a place that started with one man’s love for his dog has become a memorial to hundreds of them.

Was Coon Dog Cemetery Really in Sweet Home Alabama?

Sort of.

This was the reason Lisa convinced me to turn the motorhome around in the first place.

The 2002 Reese Witherspoon movie Sweet Home Alabama includes a scene at a Coon Dog Cemetery, and the cemetery portrayed in the movie was inspired by the real Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery in Alabama.

But here’s what we learned afterward:

The scene wasn’t actually filmed at this cemetery.

The movie’s Coon Dog Cemetery was created by the production crew in Crawfordville, Georgia. The filmmakers used the real Alabama cemetery as inspiration for the movie set.

So Lisa was right about the connection.

Just not quite the way we originally thought.

And without that connection to the movie, we probably never would have made the detour.

Of course, after all of that, there was only one thing left to do. When we finally made it to Huntsville that evening, we had to watch Sweet Home Alabama.

It seemed like the appropriate way to end a day that unexpectedly included multiple U-turns, a winding Alabama backroad, a fallen tree, and a cemetery full of beloved coon dogs.

Visiting Coon Dog Cemetery

The cemetery is near Cherokee in northwest Alabama at:

Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard
4945 Coon Dog Cemetery Road
Cherokee, Alabama

The cemetery is open during daylight hours, and there is no admission charge.

There aren’t rides, exhibits, a visitor center, or a gift shop.

It’s simply a quiet cemetery in the woods.

And that’s part of what makes it special.

PHOTO: Cemetery with sunlight through the trees

Give yourself around 30 minutes to an hour if you want to slowly walk around, read the headstones, see Troop’s grave, and look at the memorial.

Can You Visit Coon Dog Cemetery in a Big RV?

We did, so the answer is yes.

Our 38-foot motorhome towing the Bronco made it there without a problem. The winding road wouldn’t be my first choice for a rig our size, though, and there isn’t a large RV parking area when you arrive.

Take your time, be prepared for the curves, and understand that turning around could be difficult if you encountered something blocking the road.

For us, the biggest potential problem wasn’t actually the road itself. It was realizing what would have happened if we’d reached that fallen tree before the crew had cleared it. With the Bronco connected behind us, backing out wasn’t an option.

Fortunately, we never had to find out.

Sometimes You Should Follow the Weird Roadside Sign

Our little Coon Dog Cemetery adventure put us into Huntsville later than we’d planned.

It also required multiple U-turns, took our roughly 60-foot motorhome and Bronco combination down a winding road I probably wouldn’t knowingly choose again, and briefly introduced the possibility of having to disconnect the Bronco because of a fallen tree.

But I’m glad we did it.

We started the day simply trying to get from Little Rock to Huntsville.

Then we saw a sign.

COON DOG CEMETERY →

And because Lisa said, “We should go check it out,” we did.

Those are often the stops we remember most.

We didn’t know anything about Key Underwood or Troop when we started down that road. We didn’t know we’d find hundreds of homemade and professionally carved memorials hidden among the trees.

We just knew there was apparently a cemetery for coon dogs somewhere in the Alabama hills.

Sometimes that’s reason enough to make the turn.

What’s Your Craziest RV Detour?

What’s the craziest unplanned detour you’ve ever made while RVing? Did you discover something amazing, or did you end up wondering why you ever made that turn? Tell us about it in the comments—we’d love to hear where the road took you!