In restoring Oakland Cemetery, we uncover more than just historic materials. We uncover the stories of those that made up Atlanta—the grand and the humble alike. Repairing the headstone In February 2022, Angeline Malone’s headstone was accidentally damaged during a…
Atlanta is home to many cemeteries. A few, like Oakland, have remained a prominent part of the city’s culture. Most, though, are known only to a few family members or to the current owner of the property the cemetery rests…
We typically think of stone, brick, and cement as being strong, solid, and impervious, right? Not entirely. Both natural stone like marble, granite, and limestone and manufactured building materials like cinder blocks and concrete are porous. This means that these…
As the weather begins to cool off this Fall, the Preservation, Restoration, and Operations (PRO) team is transitioning to a different season of preservation work. During extreme weather, either very hot or very cold, we abstain from using mortars. That…
The handmade bricks of Oakland’s many walkways were first installed by Atlanta Cemetery grounds crews a hundred and twenty years ago. In the decades since, humans and nature had left their mark, and the once-smooth walkways had become harder to…
The current restoration of East Hill is one of the largest undertakings in Historic Oakland Foundation's forty-five years. While most of the work is similar to what we have done in sections like Jewish Hill and the Original Six Acres,…
Oakland Cemetery is known for its beautiful and elaborate granite and marble monuments. They stand out against the landscape as grand tributes to the dead. But not all headstones at Oakland are made from natural stone. Some are composed of…
Historic Oakland Foundation's preservation, restoration, and operations (PRO) team is conducting more family lot improvements than ever these days. These family-funded projects are a crucial part of the Foundation's mission to restore, preserve, enhance, and share at Oakland Cemetery. When…
Each May, we celebrate National Preservation Month and commemorate our nation's heritage through historic places. In May 1976, Oakland Cemetery was recognized as a historic place worthy of preservation when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.…
Meet Historic Oakland Foundation GIS intern and GSU graduate student Lindsey Goff. Here, Lindsey describes her work attempting to match burial records with unmarked graves in Oakland's historic African American Burial Grounds. At the beginning of 2021, I became a…