The Cummings Monument in the Old Fulton Graveyard

One of the most unique yet simple monuments in Itawamba County is the Malachai Crawford Cummings monument in the old Fulton graveyard. Yesterday while visiting this old cemetery, I visited the Cummings monument enclosed in a highly ornate iron fence. The monument reminds me of an ancient relic in the shadows of a massive cedar - one tall column, as if taken from the portico of Sunny Dell, the grand home on the hill just north of Fulton where peacocks roamed the grounds, that was home for the Cummings family during the nineteenth century. Beneath the towering column a large finial broken from the top the column rests on the grass.

Cummings came upriver to Fulton during the 1830s from Columbus and during 1840 he was elected to represent the county in the state legislature - an office he held for several terms. He was a businessman and planter, building several of the town's structures during antebellum times.