Cahaba Heights was originally known as Mudtown in the 1800s. As the city of Elyton, later called Birmingham, grew to the north, a large water supply was needed, and the construction of a pumping station on the Cahaba River began in 1887. The nearby population grew, and the name of the community was changed to Merkel after the chief engineer of the water plan construction, W. A. Merkel. The site chosen flooded repeatedly, so the community moved up the hill to a new location, and named it New Merkel.

     With the ever-growing population, a need arose for a central place to bury the dead. The Water Works deeded some land in 1897 for a cemetery, and the adjacent New Hope Methodist Protestant Church took it over as the church cemetery. The cemetery was known to locals as Standpipe Cemetery, due to a large upright water main that could be seen in front of the cemetery. In 1908, after the church burned down, the congregation rebuilt a short distance away. In the 1950s the locals, led by school principal E.A. Hollis, voted to change the name of the town to Cahaba Heights. In 1953 the church was renamed the Cahaba Heights United Methodist Church.

     Numerous locals of note are buried there, including W. A. Merkel and his two wives; three related men who were all killed in a coal mine accident; and Thomas Whaley, one of the early professors at the New Merkel School. Ann Patterson Bragg, who disappeared while on a short walk to her son's house, was never found despite extensive searches. There is a memorial marker for her there. There are also about 25 unidentified graves, known from a cemetery mapping done about 1997.

     Cahaba Heights was annexed by the city of Vestavia Hills in 2002, but the neighborhood is still referred to as Cahaba Heights.

     The cemetery is maintained by the Cahaba Heights United Methodist Church, which must be contacted for permission for burials there. The church address is 3139 Cahaba Heights Road, Vestavia Hills, Alabama 35243. It is about a mile from the cemetery.