|
Grave markers of Oakland Cemetery
National Register photograph by Yen Tang
|
Oakland Cemetery is an 48-acre hilly area in the southeastern section
of Atlanta which contains the city's oldest extant burial grounds.
Among the approximately 70,000 interred at Oakland are: the unmarked graves of paupers,
Confederate and Union soldiers, a Jewish section, an African American
section, a number of former Atlanta mayors, six former governors, prominent
Atlantans including Gone with the Wind author Margaret
Mitchell Marsh and golf great Bobby Jones. The cemetery was established
in 1850. A brick wall enclosing the cemetery with a pattern of brick
pilasters, recessed panels and corbels was built in 1896. With 50
miles of brick streets and walkways, the grounds of the cemetery are
an expression of the 19th-century landscape ideal of a cemetery-park
and provide a luxuriant setting for its profusion of Victorian cemetery
art.
Main entrance gate to Oakland
Cemetery
Courtesy of the Atlanta Urban Design Commission |
|
Three of the oldest sections of the cemetery were set aside for specific
groups and have visually distinct environments. The Confederate section,
occupying six acres of high ground, is marked by an 1873 obelisk and
a monument to the unknown dead. The monument includes a
wounded lion lying on a furled Confederate flag. The Jewish section,
dating to 1860, is crowded with elaborate grave markers bearing
inscriptions in both Hebrew and English. The black section of the
cemetery is on the northern end on sloping ground that looks toward
the historic east-side black community. The landscape here is less
crowded and the markers generally less elaborately detailed.
The marble and granite gravestones throughout the cemetery range
from simple, unadorned flat granite markers to grandly scaled obelisks
and mausoleums. Both round and low-pitched arched stones with a
variety of tympanum motifs dating from the mid-19th century are
particularly prevalent. Markers in the shape of urns, occasionally
displaying a common 18th-century motif of winged cherub or soul
figure are used widely. Other notable and typically Victorian figure
motifs found in the cemetery include a sleeping child or cherub
in a shell, the weeping wife or mother bowed in grief with palm
leaf or laurel wreath in hand, angel figures and the solemn classical
figure who may be clinging to a cross. Widespread marker forms include
anchors bound with rope, rough hewn rocks covered with ivy and lilies,
tree trunks from which all limbs have been removed, crosses bedecked
with flowers and portrait stones.
Oakland Cemetery is located at 248 Oakland Ave., NE, near the
intersection of Boulevard St. and Memorial Dr. where Martin Luther
King, Jr. Dr. ends. The main entrance is located on Oakland St.,
off Memorial Ave. The Visitor's Center is located in the Bell Tower
Building, and is open 9:00am to 5:00pm daily. Guided tours are available
March-October, Saturdays at 10:00am and 2:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm
(except holidays); there is a fee. Guide books are also available
for self-guided tours. For further information please call 404-688-2107
or visit their website.
|