Many souls rest in Meridian’s Rose Hill Cemetery, but the most visited gravesite belongs to the queen of the gypsy nation whose tombstone is a highlight of the cemetery’s annual tour set this year on September 28.
Queen Kelly Mitchell’s interment in 1915 drew 20,000 gypsies to Meridian for the ceremonial parade and burial. The queen passed away January 31 in Coatopa, Ala. just across Mississippi’s state line. She died at age 47 while giving birth to her 14th child. Her husband, King Emil Mitchell, took her body to Meridian because the city had an ample ice supply for preserving her body while bands of gypsies from across the nation travelled to pay their respects. The funeral took place 12 days after her death.
Today, more than a dozen members of the Mitchell family rest at Rose Hill, including the queen’s husband who died in 1942 at age 85. The cemetery is located at 631 40th Ave. To find the graves, follow the gravel entranceway uphill and look to the right just before the road curves. The queen’s tombstone is usually festooned with beads, coins, wine bottles, apples and assorted trinkets. Gypsies often pay their respects to the queen leaving gifts in hope that her spirit will offer solutions to their problems by visiting them in a dream or somehow sending them a message. Some of the more unique items occasionally at the queen’s monument include a sack of fast-food burgers and fries and a pair of purple slippers with a matching handbag.
The term gypsy refers to the nomadic people of Romani who originated in northern India but migrated to Europe, South America and North America. In the previous century they were known for traveling in groups and establishing temporary campsites between their moves from place to place. Today’s gypsies have melted into culture and are more stationary.
According to local newspaper accounts, the gypsy queen was buried on a cold day and the funeral procession was not solemn. Multitudes of gypsies marched from the funeral at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to Rose Hill amidst a lively local college band playing peppy music. Legendary tales claiming she was buried with thousands of dollars have attracted grave robbers throughout the years whose unsuccessful attempts have left the concrete slab atop the grave broken.
The Rose Hill Cemetery Players offer a costumed, story-telling tour telling stories of the gypsy and of several other prominent citizens and city leaders buried in the graveyard. It is not a haunting tour; instead, it is a heritage tour. The “marble orchard” has stones dating back to 1853. Always set the last Saturday evening in September, the event is free and is suitable for all ages. It begins at 6 p.m. and concludes at 8 p.m. The walking tour stops at 14 tombs beginning at the grave of the landowner of the cemetery site and meandering amongst the resting spots of prominent citizens and key city leaders. The tour tells Meridian’s history including the yellow fever epidemic and various wars. A hundred soldiers who died at the Confederate hospital during the Civil War are buried in a mound. The hospital was located at the site of the city’s high school and bones of the Confederate veterans were discovered in the early 1900s during the school’s construction.
Rose Hill Cemetery tours began in 2009. More information can be found via Facebook’s Rose Hill Cemetery Costumed Tour.
