The main entrance to Oakland Cemetery is located at Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. and Oakland Ave. The name of the street has been changed since the guide was published in 1940.
23. OAKLAND CEMETERY, Fair Street between S. Boulevard and Oakland Avenue, is enclosed by an old brick wall. The cemetery, originally a six-acre tract deeded to the city in 1850, was later extended to cover eighty-five acres. The LION OF ATLANTA, on the cemetery grounds, is a copy of the celebrated Lion of Lucerne. Carved from a single block of Georgia marble, it was dedicated to the unknown Confederate dead in Oakland Cemetery on April 26, 1894. The grave of Martha Lumpkin Compton, for whom Marthasville was named before it became Atlanta, is marked by a block of native granite. Among the distinguished Confederate dead is the grave of General John B. Gordon.
Horticulturalists know the cemetery as the regional origin of the famous Burford variety of Iler cornuta or Chinese evergreen holly, specimens of which lend distinction to many Atlanta homes and public buildings. The original two specimens were sent as small plants to T. W. Burford, probably around 1895, at which time he was superintendent of Westview. Now grown to an imposing size, especially for their sort, the original hollies are still in the cemetery. It was first propagated by S. R. Howell of Knoxville, Tennessee, but has since been spread throughout the Southeast.
Georgia A Guide To Its Towns And Countryside (1940)
Author: Federal Writers Project Georgia
Publisher: Tupper And Love Atlanta
Language: English
Call number: 8333
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Oakland Cemetery is the oldest and largest cemetery, as well as one of the largest green spaces, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded as "Atlanta Cemetery" in 1850 on six acres (2.4 hectares) of land southeast of the city, it was renamed in 1872 to reflect the large number of oak and magnolia trees growing in the area. By that time, the city had grown and the cemetery had enlarged correspondingly to the current 48 acres (19.43 hectares).
Since then, Atlanta has continued to expand, so that the cemetery is now located in the center of the city. Oakland is an excellent example of a Victorian-style cemetery, and reflects the "garden cemetery" movement started and exemplified by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts.
The original six acres of Oakland remains one of the oldest historical plots of land in Atlanta, most of the rest of the city having been burned in 1864. Because of its age and location, the cemetery directly reflects the history and changing culture of the City of Atlanta and the significant events it has seen. Names of Atlanta streets, buildings, parks, subdivisions, and more can be found within the cemetery gates. An estimated 70,000 people are interred at Oakland, and while the last plots were sold in 1884, there are still regular burials today. These are largely conducted on family-owned plots or areas owned by Atlanta (one of the most recent being former mayor Maynard Jackson, whose plot was contributed by the city).