Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery

We commonly lay the dead to rest in cemeteries; these burial grounds have a reputation for being gloomy, spooky, and haunted with ghostly apparitions. Gravesites are often themes in horror movies where remains are buried or dug up, or disembodied souls with unfinished business terrorize the living. In “The Waste Land,” T.S. Eliot wrote, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust,” which eloquently explains our innate fear of not being remembered when we ultimately die. Be that as it may, while Atlanta, Georgia’s Oakland Cemetery, does have that scary movie atmosphere, its eerie boneyard ambiance is juxtaposed with beautiful gardens, architecture, and history so we may remember those buried beneath well-groomed pastures.

Oakland Cemetery’s history dates back to 1850, when city officials purchased six acres for the public to bury Atlanta residents. Officials bought more acres through the 19th century to make room for lives lost during the Civil War; with that expansion, families and groundskeepers created charming gardens and infrastructure around plots and even used the cemetery to socialize in functions like picnics. In 1976, Oakland Cemetery became classified as a historic landmark and is now a popular tourist attraction for locals and travelers.

Oakland Cemetery houses various heritages, the elite, and enslaved people of Slave Square — where pre-civil war, almost 1,000 enslaved people were buried in segregated unmarked graves. City officials later dug up and reburied those enslaved people in another area for the indigent so the city could sell more plots to white families. As I toured Oakland Cemetery on April 27, 2022, I captured many site photographs, including large illuminated ledgers containing the names of over 12,000 enslaved people whose remains are intermingled under attractive landscaping on pauper grounds. Slave Square was the most disturbing part of my visit, but like all history, not all stories are pleasant; regardless, it is essential to understand the past to comprehend the present day and self-discovery.

Oakland Cemetery hosts many events such as Halloween, art exhibits, tours, and weddings. It remains open during business hours for anyone who wishes to visit burials, go for random strolls, or explore. Visiting Oakland Cemetery is the perfect place to learn about Atlanta’s multidimensional deep-seated history; the burial ground is so expansive that surveying it may take hours or even days, yet every moment is well worth your time.

I am exploring storytelling; I had no script; however, please check out my first mini-movie, capturing my random stroll while taking pictures at Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vosCMR9dYU

I originally published the exact text with a different video at https://www.historypin.org.