This obelisk is in rural Alabama, halfway between Birmingham and Huntsville. It marks the grave of an "infidel" - who we know to be better labeled "agnostic/atheist".

Here lies Capt. Frank Burns (1840-1909).

He arrived in this Alabama community after fighting for the South in the Civil War. He worked as a geologist and would eventually move to Washington DC to work at the Smithsonian.

Burns provided some books and artifacts to the local school. The school burned down in the 1890s. He returned to rouse the locals to fund a new building, and became the school’s major donor. The children called him Grandpa Burns.

In 1903, Burns wrote in to the “Blue Grass Blade” to explain why he was an infidel.

In 1909, feeling ill, he moved from DC back to Alabama to die. His remains were laid to rest on the campus grounds.

The steps on either side of his obelisk are all that is left of the school and Captain Burns’s legacy.