This is one of my favorite Garden Cemeteries (the other being Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta) and it just so happens to be located right here in my adopted hometown of Athens! Even better? It take only a few minutes to drive there from my work so I get to visit often on lunch breaks…
Situated along the river and offering truly serene views in certain spots (if you just ignore the giant stadium looming behind you), the cemetery is nestled in the hills of the historic downtown area. Oh, and it is smack dab in the middle of UGA campus (hence, the stadium thing) so it gets a good deal of foot traffic these days. Which is exactly what these types of cemeteries are designed for…strolling, exploring, visiting.
The amount of details found on a number of the graves is just astounding. And while some of them show some obvious wear due to exposure, most of them are in excellent shape many, many, many decades after their carving and placement.
In the oldest sections you’ll find names that are very familiar to an Athens dweller such as Lumpkin, Barrow and Aderhold. Crawford Long, the inventor of anesthesia, and Ben Epps, the first to build and fly an airplane in Georgia, are also buried here.
The cemetery has a long history (almost as long as the toes of the statue above) that began with its purchase in 1885 and continues to this day. If you want to read about it then I highly recommend the UGA DigLab website as it breaks things down into a variety of sections including listing local stone carvers, a deeper dive into the Rural Cemetery movement and more. You can find that here.
While the newer sections beyond the river aren’t as ornate as it flower/symbol laden older cousin ‘old section’, they are still no less important and/or interesting. If you head to back corner of the cemetery boundary you’ll find the grave of Ricky Wilson. Wilson was a founding member of the B-52’s, and his pyramid shaped grave still sees a steady stream of visitors who leave retro-themed tokens, like mini lava lamp keychains, in his honor.
There’s also a small Jewish cemetery that is actually separate of Oconee Hill Cemetery but it lies within the borders and fencing so it’s unofficially considered a section of the larger whole. That’s where the dolphin-themed gravestone above is from and that gravestone one of favorite more modern pieces. It’s just so darn personal and as a child who grew up with those fabulous dolphin frolicking tie-dye shirts from the late 80’s and early 90’s, I can’t help but to love it.
Speaking of love, I love floriography and funerary symbolism so I’ll be back to share a post about some of the ones featured here. I’ll talk the meaning of butterflies and what that pentagram stuff is about and other fun things.
Want to find out even more about a few of the many cemeteries here in Athens, Georgia? Read my Flagpole Magazine article!
