This is a darling of a spot and there has been SO MUCH restoration work and love poured into it. Literally and figuratively. And if the name of this cemetery looks a little familiar it’s because I shared one of its most infamous residents on the blog recently. Remember Moses Harshaw?
You can read about him here but this time I’m going to focus on the cemetery itself. 🙂
The first thing you’ll notice about the location is all of the greenery. Founded in 1831 this is considered an early rural garden cemetery, and because of that there are lots of big beautiful trees and loads of flowering plants. It also feels very ‘hodgepodge’ in the layout which adds to the overall charm but it’s actually very carefully curated. They are using period/era appropriate plants for the landscaping and their effort truly shows!
On that note, take a looksie at this tree stump from a hemlock that was cut down in 2017 after it was bent/broken in a storm. The tree was 157 years old and they created an exhibit in its honor called A Slice of History. To quote the botanical curator for the cemetery “Welcome to the Old Clarkesville Cemetery where, as we say, history never dies.” The article here details the whole experience.
This is one of the big restoration projects that has been in the works. The Durbec family’s plot had sustained damage over time but now it’s on the way to looking just like it did when first built for the deceased.
This is a stucco over brick with lime wash. They’ve been documenting this process for quite a while and it’s so interesting to see it unfold in real time. Since this picture they’ve installed a plaque and landscaped.
Just a note on the Frederick Durbec family:
Durbec and his Charleston-based business partner, J.M. Osburn, were “among the most important Civil War photographers…”
In addition to images from the war, the pair also made some of the only American documentary images of African-American enslaved people living on a South Carolina plantation. – source These images are now part of the collection at the Library of Congress.
After Durbec married Manuela Victoria Rogero, they opened a hotel in Clarkesville and had three children. Two of them died young. Durbec died shortly after and they are all buried in the above pictured plot. His wife and surviving daughter left town shortly after that and moved to St. Augustine, Florida. They are not buried here.
One of the newer projects in the cemetery, not pictured here because they happened after my visit, is to install wooden markers to honor members of the Black community in Clarkesville. They’ve just featured one of them on their Instagram for a woman named Amanda Deas. You can see it here.
As a former enslaved person, Amanda Deas’ life spanned decades of tremendous societal shifts.
After Charles Deas (her husband) passed, she inherited his land holdings; her name is on the deed recorded in 1886 that paid forward a most generous gift – the land on which to establish a church home.
Deas Chapel served the AME community for many years before its congregation dwindled.
Several decades ago, Clarkesville FUMC members and then a private owner led efforts to repair the aging structure. The city now owns the chapel.
Deas Chapel is thought to be the last tangible remnant of early black history in Clarkesville. (Instagram)
This weekend (May 17th) is the 63rd annual Mountain Laurel Festival in Clarkesville! That you means you can take a guided tour of the cemetery from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. and find out even more about the area and the people within. And stop by Deas Chapel! Plus there’s a historic Appalachian cabin to tour, log hewing contest, parade, rubber duck race, local vendors and more.
Please go if you can. I found a North Georgia guidebook from the early 2000’s at the library the other day and I started counting the number of festivals in the state that have just disappeared after decades of involvement. There are so many cool events that just went *poof* for a variety of reasons and it’s pretty darn heartbreaking. I hope y’all don’t mind if I mention current ones here from time-to-time because after attending the Cherry Blossom, Worm Grunting, Jekyll Tour of Lights, Sand Crane Fest, Rattlesnake Roundup, Trout Lily Bloom and a few others, I have caught the festival bug. I’ve always loved them but now I’m in love with them.
I won’t be able to attend the festival this year but if you do then please let me know about all the fun you had and I’ll live vicariously through you!
More information about the festival can be found here.
