Decatur Cemetery

Decatur Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Location	229 Bell St., Decatur, Georgia
Coordinates	33°46′56″N 84°17′32″W
Area	58 acres (23 ha)
Built	1826
Architect	Scott, Robert et al.; Pauley, W.C.
NRHP reference No.	97000459
Added to NRHP	May 23, 1997

The Decatur Cemetery is a historic graveyard within the City of Decatur, Georgia.

History

The Decatur Cemetery is the oldest burial ground in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and it is believed to have been used even before Decatur's 1823 incorporation.

In 1852, an act by the local legislature created “Commissioners for the Decatur Burial Ground.” Numerous Civil War veterans were buried in the Decatur Cemetery, mostly in the 8-acre (3.2 ha) region now referred to as, "The Old Cemetery". The Cemetery's "Well House" was built in 1881.

Today

The Decatur Cemetery has expanded to 58 acres (23 ha) and contains well over 20,000 graves. A special section exists for cremated burials; the cemetery also contains a pond stocked with fish. This pond is also home to swans, ducks and turtles, and is a stopping place for Canada geese on migration. The cemetery is bordered by a several acre forest, which borders the Glennwood Estates neighborhood.

Features

The forested ravine east of the cemetery includes a newly completed pedestrian path that winds over a branch of Peachtree Creek. A small, but lovely waterfall is just south of the southern bridge.

At the southeast corner of the cemetery is found a rather surprising grove of giant bamboo, some with trunks over 20 cm in diameter. A short path leads through this grove to the end of the Ponce de Leon Court Historic District.

Glenlake Park

On the north, the cemetery is bordered by Glenlake Park, which can be accessed by a footpath.

Notable graves

• Lt. Col. Robert Augustus Alston (1832-1879); state legislator and journalist, owner of Meadow Nook
• Col. Milton A Candler (1837–1909); state senator and U.S. Congressman
• Dr Thomas Holly Chivers (1806–1858); physician and poet
• Mary Ann Harris Gay (1828–1918); author of Life in Dixie During the War
• Charles Murphey (1799–1861); U.S. Congressman and a delegate to the Georgia Secession Convention
• Col. George Washington Scott (1829–1903); founder of Agnes Scott College
• Andrew Sledd (1870–1939); founding president of the modern University of Florida, and Emory University professor
• Benjamin F. Swanton (1807–1890); builder of the historic Swanton House

Gallery

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References

• Georgia Encyclopedia entry
• Decatur website
• Waymarking

External links

• Decatur Cemetery on Find a Grave
• Historic Decatur Cemetery historical marker