Hank Williams' Alabama Grave

Hank Williams left this world in the back seat of a baby blue Cadillac somewhere between Bristol, Tenn., and Oak Hill on the way to a New Year's Day in1953. It is not known with certainty whether Hank passed on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, or even where he was, but he was officially declared dead at 7:00 a.m. on January 1, 1953, in Oak Hill, W. Va. 

More than 50 years after his death, Hank Williams's grave continues to be one of the most visited burial sites in Alabama. Hank is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex off Upper Wetumpka Road in Montgomery Alabama. He was originally buried on January 4, 1953 in the main part of Oakwood Cemetery, but his body was moved to its current location on January 17 of that year to a more attractive spot that would later be able to accommodate the burial of other family members. Even then or rather, especially, since the shock of his death was still new, the move had to be made during the night because of the steady stream of visitors to the gravesite. 

The gravesite features two white and gray Georgia marble monuments. Hank’s stands in front of a marble replica of his cowboy hat. The other belongs to Hank’s ex-wife, Audrey Sheppard Williams, who died on November 4, 1975.

Technically, Hank’s widow was Billie Jean Eshliman, the woman he married in October of 1952, in a private ceremony and then remarried twice the next day. A promoter had the idea to charge $2 to see the couple married and some 14,000 people paid to attend the two events. Friends have said that the couple were nervous that first wife, Audrey, might show up to make trouble at the public weddings. She did not. She did, however, have control of script approval when the film, Your Cheating Heart, starring George Hamilton, was made and she had the second wedding written out of the film. Audrey Williams also told the Montgomery Advertiser after Hank’s death that Hank had plans to divorce Billie Jean so they could remarry, although friends who knew them both at the time have commented that this was news to them.