When I’m working with the preservation team at Oakland Cemetery, it feels like I’m working in a library of souls. I see the titles, but can’t read their stories. This marker caught my eye. “Lost at Sea” in Atlanta? Curious…
Kenny Rogers, one of the best-selling musicians of all time, has been laid to rest at Oakland Cemetery. The singer/songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur’s monument is located east of the Memorial Drive gate along Oakland's southern wall. Fans and music lovers…
In the view of many people, Willis and Sarah Carlisle were Atlanta’s first permanent residents after the city's creation. They came to settle in our city, not to pass through or perform a job. They arrived without and prospects or…
The Georgia Women of Achievement (GWA) is an honor bestowed on the accomplished women of Georgia, both natives to the state as well as longtime residents. The GWA was originally proposed 1988 by a notable Georgian, first lady Rosalynn Carter.…
After Helen Elizabeth Nash graduated from Spelman College, she told her family that she wanted to become a doctor. Her father, Dr. Homer Nash, didn’t think that his third child had the physical stamina to get through medical school. Young…
“Why do not more young colored men and women take up photography as a career? The average white photographer does not know how to deal with colored skins and having neither sense of the delicate beauty or tone nor will…
For a month in early 1893, a series of crimes occurred in Atlanta that shocked citizens and confounded authorities. Dubbed a “carnival of crimes,” this crime wave included suicides, a double murder, and an embezzlement scandal. Although these tragic events…
Rev. Rufus H. Houston's grave marker, found in Oakland's historic African American burial grounds, resembles a lectern like those found in the pulpit of a church. It bears the following epitaph: “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for…
Last week the PRO Team tackled some long-overdue critical projects across the cemetery. One such project was re-setting the tombstone of Elizabeth (Betsy) Pilgrim, wife of Oakland’s second sexton, Green Pilgrim. Although the preservation work was straightforward and probably not…
by Sarah Zureick-Brown, Historic Oakland Foundation volunteer Ambling through Oakland Cemetery is a great way to connect with past citizens of Atlanta. From the vast array of gravestones honoring the dead, we can learn the names of those who came…