Jackson Street Cemetery, Athens Georgia

The Jackson Street Cemetery is sited on 2.5 acres of land within the original 633-acre tract deeded to the University of Georgia by John Milledge in 1803. The property was unofficially donated to the city of Athens by the University's Board of Trustees c.1810 for use as a public cemetery. The cemetery was used by white residents of Athens and includes graves of farmers, prominent citizens, university students and faculty, and soldiers from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. The cemetery was heavily used through the 1840s when it became crowded, and by 1848 the city announced that no new burials were allowed in the cemetery. Although burials continued into the 1890s, Jackson Street Cemetery's time as the official city cemetery ended in September 1855 with the opening of nearby Oconee Hill Cemetery. Many families moved graves from Jackson Street to the new cemetery. During the 20th Century, university buildings were constructed on either side of the cemetery (Baldwin Hall in 1938 and the art school in 1962). By the 1970s and 1980s, the cemetery was deteriorating due to lack of maintenance, erosion, and vandalism. The Friends of the Old Athens Cemetery took over maintenance from 1983 through 2004, when the responsibility was turned over to the university with a small endowment. Since then, preservation has been done including a boundary survey, marker recordation and assessment, ground-penetrating radar surveys, GIS mapping of marked and unmarked burials, and stabilization work.
On January 27th, 1785, the Georgia legislature passed an act creating the first state-chartered university in the United States. Sixteen years later, John Milledge purchased a 633-acre tract of land and donated it to the university's board of trustees. The first building, Old College, was constructed between 1801 and 1805. The trustees laid out town lots to sell to the north and west of the university and in December 1806 the city of Athens was incorporated.
Circa 1810, the university's board of trustees unofficially donated land for use as a public cemetery to the city of Athens. The earliest known burial at Jackson Street Cemetery is in 1814 and the latest is 1898. Jackson Street Cemetery was only used as the main city cemetery for a short time. The unofficial donation of land and rapid overcrowding created an untenable situation for both the university and the city of Athens by the 1850s.
Jackson Street Cemetery contains 135 known burials, 124 unassociated gravestones, and 221 gravestone pieces. Some grave markers have signatures of known gravestone carvers, such as John White and J. McKenzie of Charleston, South Carolina; H. Fitzsimons of Savannah, Georgia; and R.H. Goodman & Co. and Glendinning of Augusta, Georgia. Much of the stone used in the cemetery is native Georgia marble and Elberton granite. Soapstone native to Gwinnett and Hart counties in Georgia is also found.
The cemetery was used by white residents of Athens and includes graves of farmers, prominent citizens, university students and faculty, and soldiers from the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
Historic records indicate that university trustees were concerned about the cemetery's overcrowded conditions in the 1840s. By 1848 the city announced that no new burials were allowed in the cemetery. In 1855, Oconee Hill Cemetery, a new public cemetery for Athens' white citizens, opened east of downtown Athens. Burials were discouraged in Jackson Street Cemetery after 1855, but both the city and the university overlooked later interments, especially if the individual had a family plot or loved one already buried on the site.
Fewer and fewer of the plots were maintained as families began to move their loved ones to other cemeteries. The lack of attention led to vandalism, clandestine activities, and maintenance requests by various university trustees and chancellors. As early as the 1870s, meeting minutes from the university board of trustees indicate that the cemetery was unkempt and monies were assigned for its maintenance. However, the university's financial situation combined with on-going disagreements with the city of Athens as to ownership and maintenance issues kept the cemetery in a state of overgrowth and disarray.
Jackson Street Cemetery was caught in a "catch-22" - the city claimed the property belonged to the university and the university claimed it belonged to the city. The situation resolved itself somewhat c. 1900 when the university began to actively remove overgrown vegetation. This was done because then-Chancellor Walter B. Hill wanted to redesign the University of Georgia's campus using the City Beautiful design principles popular in the early 20th Century. Hill negotiated reinterments and street closures and rerouting with the city between 1903 and 1905. George Foster Peabody pledged $500 toward reinterment costs and advised Chancellor Hill regarding the legalities of reinterment. Chancellor Hill died unexpectedly in 1905. The plan to reinter burials in Jackson Street Cemetery in nearby Oconee Hill Cemetery ended with Hill's death because support of his campus redesign plan waned.
Research indicates that the ownership and maintenance disagreement continued between the university and city during the 1920s and 1930s. A photograph dated c.1936 shows the northwest section of the cemetery in disarray but devoid of overgrown vegetation. The site was cleaned in the late 1930s in preparation for the construction of Baldwin Hall along the cemetery's southern border. Local legend maintains that Baldwin's construction disturbed a number of graves; historic documentation does not support this view. One plot is noted on a construction survey as existing at the ridge of what would become a sharp drop in slope between the cemetery and Baldwin Hall. This regrading of the southwest corner became the sharp drop that exists today. The owner of the plot is not noted, however, and it is unknown at this time if a burial was moved.
Throughout the 20th Century, Jackson Street Cemetery was often used as a cut-through between South Thomas and South Jackson streets. Foot traffic through the site increased dramatically between 1942 and 1945 when Baldwin Hall was used by the U.S. Navy as part of their Pre-Flight School. Paths and narrow roadways appeared, and a parking area was installed on the cemetery's southeast corner. Aerial photographs taken between 1938 and 1946 confirm the existence of a small connector path parallel to South Thomas Street, which extends between the Baldwin Hall parking lot and the cemetery's original northern border at Magazine Street. Aerial photographs and physical evidence confirm the existence of a narrow road or path between the cemetery's northwest corner (at Jackson Street) and the Baldwin Hall parking lot. Remaining physical evidence also confirms that the southeast corner of the cemetery (the portion abutting the Baldwin Hall parking lot) was used for parking between 1942 and 1946. The majority of the parking surface was removed by Athens area volunteers in the 1980s. The c.1940 aerial photographs also show the beginning of the Current convenience path from the cemetery's northeast corner diagonally to the Baldwin Hall ridge. This convenience path was in regular use until fall 2007. The foot traffic and activity undoubtedly affected the markers, monuments and vaults within the cemetery, but the true extent is unknown at this time. Activity within the cemetery waned after the Pre-Flight School stopped using Baldwin Hall, and the cemetery fell into another long period of disrepair.
he cemetery's fortunes changed somewhat in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the Lamar Dodd School of Art building was constructed. Completed in 1962, it drew attention to the cemetery's state of disrepair, and the university created a beautification plan for the site. The plan included the installation of a concrete-block wall outlining the site, decorative plantings, and modern pathways. Only the concrete-block walls were completed and research has not determined why this was the case. In hindsight, the cemetery benefited from the lack of attention. Historic material would have certainly been lost. During the 1960s and 1970s, the cemetery again fell into disrepair and neglect, and the university administration was reluctant to use state funds to regularly maintain property the university did not own. The city continued to insist that the cemetery was abandoned property and was the university's obligation.
Community volunteers had the most impact on the cemetery during the 1960s and 1970s. Additional conservation was undertaken in the early 1960s with the construction of three brick tables. Marble replacement markers were created at this time, and it is unknown at this time why the brick tables were constructed.
By 1980 Jackson Street Cemetery was in obvious distress. Vegetation was unkempt and many of the markers, even those repaired in the 1930s, were in disrepair. Vandalism, theft, and undocumented removals of grave markers by family or decedents were obvious. During this time, the university planned to reinter the remaining burials and replace the cemetery with a parking deck. Public outcry forced the university to change the plans, and a non-profit friends group was formed to maintain the cemetery. The group obtained legal title to the two-and-a-half-acre site from the city of Athens c.1984 and began a series of repair and maintenance projects. Their efforts, although at times not to current preservation standards, greatly improved the profile of Jackson Street Cemetery within the community. Their most dramatic repair was the use of heavy equipment to remove the WWII-era macadam parking surface material in the southeast corner of the cemetery. Some of the macadam surface was inadvertently overlooked at the time of removal and was added to the University of Georgia's GIS cemetery map. Other repairs during this period included the use of metal or plastic pins and mastic adhesive to repair slab markers and headstones.
The group formally donated the cemetery back to the University's Board of Regents in 2004, and it has been under the care of the Physical Plant Grounds Department since that time.
Site Description
The Jackson Street Cemetery (also called Old Athens Cemetery) is located one-quarter mile south of downtown Athens, the county seat of Clarke County in northeast Georgia. The cemetery is situated on Jackson Street in the North Campus area of the University of Georgia (the campus has traditionally been divided into North Campus and South Campus sections). Founded in 1785, the University of Georgia is the first state-chartered university in the United States and is Georgia's largest land-grant university.
The Jackson Street Cemetery is located on the University of Georgia's campus on Jackson Street between the Lamar Dodd School of Art and Baldwin Hall. Founded c.1810, the cemetery has an irregular-shaped lot and is situated on an east-west sloping hillside. The cemetery developed over time as opposed to having a formal plan. Consequently, there are north-south rows of grave markers but no formal east-west rows and there are no formal pathways. The cemetery contains 135 known burials, 124 unassociated gravestones, and 221 gravestone pieces. A wide variety of funerary art is found in Jackson Street Cemetery including flat slab markers, decorative upright markers, obelisks, footstones, and box tombs. Most of the markers are marble and granite. Five plots are surrounded by cast-iron fencing that dates from the 1870s through the 1890s. There are a number of unmarked burials also within the cemetery. The landscaping is informal with ornamental and hardwood trees and shrubs. Cedar trees and a cedar hedge were added in the early 20th Century and magnolia, Chinese elm, mulberry, oak, and pine trees are also found in the cemetery.
Jackson Street Cemetery is a two-and-a-half acre site located one-quarter mile south of downtown Athens in Clarke County, Georgia. The cemetery is located on the University of Georgia campus and is part of the university's original 633-acre land grant. Circa 1810, the university's board of trustees unofficially donated the cemetery lot to the city of Athens for use as a public cemetery.
The irregularly shaped cemetery is situated on an east-west sloping hillside. The property is bounded on the north by the Lamar Dodd School of Art (built in 1962); on the east by South Thomas Street/East Campus Drive; on the south by Baldwin Hall (built in 1938); and on the west by South Jackson Street. In the 1910s, the east and west boundaries of the cemetery were impacted by the city's public works improvement projects. The city installed sidewalks, streetlights, and road grade improvements, and city records indicate that some caskets located along South Thomas Street/East Campus Drive were "pushed back into the hillside."
The cemetery was not laid out with a formal plan. The lack of a formal plan combined with the site's topography created a cemetery with an irregular grid. The cemetery has north-south rows but no formal pathways and no formal east-west rows. Historically, the property was not fenced. A planting design for the cemetery was created in 1962 by the University of Georgia; however, only one portion of the plan was undertaken - the construction of stuccoed concrete block walls surrounding three sides of the site. Also, during the 20th Century, a formal recessed entrance gate and steps up to the cemetery were added to the cemetery. The entrance gate is a late 19th-century cast-iron gate, rescued from an Athens house scheduled for demolition in the 1930s, and was incorporated into the Jackson Street side of the wall to create a formal entrance for the cemetery.
The cemetery may have contained magnolia and water oaks during its period of heavy use (c.1810-1855) but plantings or period species are unknown at this date. Cedar trees and a cedar hedge were added in the early 20th Century, and daffodils were planted in the 1980s. Volunteer ornamentals, primarily cherry laurel, are common and larger specimens were removed in 2006. Wild onions are visible in the spring. The site currently contains cedar, Chinese elm, magnolia, mulberry, oak, pine, red oak, water oak, and white oak trees ranging from 3" in diameter to over 50" in diameter.
The majority of burials in the cemetery are unmarked and were located only recently during an archaeological investigation using ground-penetrating radar. Due to years of neglect and erosion, many of the remaining markers need repair or stabilization. Marble is the most common material used for headstones, footstones, and box tombs in Jackson Street Cemetery.
The cemetery has notable examples of early 19th-century grave marker types including headstones, footstones, ledgers, box tombs, and obelisks. Good examples of headstones are seen in markers for James and Sarah Espey and the White family plot). As headstones were used to mark the head of a grave, footstones were used to demarcate the end of a burial. Jackson Street Cemetery has a few graves with footstones, such as in the Gorley family plot.
Some headstones and ledgers in the cemetery are signed by known stone carvers from Augusta, Charleston, and Savannah. A majority of the markers do not contain signatures or include iconography. Poplar funerary motifs from the 19th Century found on grave markers in the cemetery include the weeping willow, rose, sunrise, and sunset. One elaborate marker replicates a Gothic arch and rose window, and incorporates cross, rose vine, and sunrise motifs. The marble sides of a handful of box tombs incorporate a lotus flower. Photographic and remaining physical evidence show that one headstone incorporated Gothic arches and may have been capped by an urn.
Another headstone incorporates stylized Gothic and floral motifs.
A series of five headstones were carved in pink granite by an apparently inexperienced stonemason because the stone's bedding planes are exposed to the elements. This has caused three of the five headstones to spall, two down to the bases and one to near illegibility. The other two headstones in this group incorporate a rough, but attractive, carving technique on their faces. One green soapstone headstone has been located to date.
Ledger-type markers are common in the cemetery. The Carlton-Felton-Lyle family plot has a number of good examples of ledger tombs. There is evidence that some of these may have been table tomb-type markers that have been reset. The Daughter's of the American Revolution (DAR) conducted a cemetery transcription project in 1933. Their original notes describe the preservation efforts undertaken by DAR at that time: unstable brick box tomb bases were lowered and encased in concrete and spalling stucco and lime mortar was replaced on an obelisk. The 1933 preservation work also included resetting headstones in granite or concrete bases. Current archaeological efforts are piecing together the history for some of the ledger markers, and thus far three have been confirmed to have once had stone bases and individual 'table leg' supports.
Jackson Street Cemetery is noteworthy and characterized by the number of box tombs still extant. A decorative box tomb is located in the Carlton-Felton-Lyle family plot. This box tomb resembles a table tomb with table legs carved into the corners of the solid box base. A grouping of box tombs is in the Graham family plot. These tombs are representative of the box tombs in the cemetery with plain box bases and a ledger marker on top forming a lid that overhangs the base. Box tombs have been damaged and vandalized over the years. Many are in need of stabilization and some have lost their ledger top.
The cemetery has four obelisks. The obelisks are generally plain and do not have a lot of carved motifs. The obelisk sits on a low base, has smooth sides, and tapers to a squared-off top. There are also a number of plinths remaining within the cemetery, which suggests that it may have once a number of monuments or statuary.
A unique grave in the cemetery is the brick vault tomb located on the western side of the cemetery. The tomb is brick laid in an English bond pattern with an arched top. Over the years, incompatible mortar repointing and stuccoing have caused the bricks to deteriorate.
The Lampkin family plot at the northwest corner of the cemetery is the most prominent plot both in terms of markers and location. The plot is located adjacent to the entrance gate and is readily seen from South Jackson Street. A portion of the plot has stone edging that encloses three of the most decorative markers in the cemetery. There are remnants of cast-iron fencing on top of the edging. Edward Lampkin's grave is marked by a marble obelisk with a cap, Mary L.P. Lampkin's grave is marked with an engraved marble die, base and cap-type marker, and Edward Clarke Taylor's grave is marked with a marble raised top-type marker that is topped with an open vaulted-arch. Three of the Lampkin graves were marked with new brick ledger bases and replacement ledgers.
Coping or low walls demarcated family plots in the cemetery. Plot walls were constructed of brick, granite, limestone, soapstone, or gneiss. All of the brick walls were repaired with various types of mortar during their history. Some of the walls are damaged by volunteer trees or iron jacking. Some coping has only recently been uncovered through recent archaeological investigations.
Remnants of cast-iron fencing around family plots are also extant in the cemetery. The fencing is generally in poor condition. The cemetery's remaining ironwork has been dated to the 1870s through the 1890s. The patterns are primarily in a Victorian style and none of the patterns match from one plot to the next. The designs range from simple diagonals and diamond shapes to more intricate scrolls and hearts. Stylized lotus flower, acanthus leaf, and acorn motifs are visible. Ironwork has been found around five plots to date, and it is unknown at this time if cast-iron fencing was used within the cemetery prior to the 1870s.
Except for various repairs and the construction of an entrance gate and perimeter walls, the cemetery has changed very little in the 20th Century. Replacement markers were erected for two members of the Conger family. Vegetation removal projects were undertaken by the University and the City sporadically between 1950 and 1960. More intensive vegetation removal, however, occurred between 1960 and 1962 during the construction of the Lamar Dodd School of Art. Two polished granite markers were added to the cemetery c.1983, and two marble replacement headstones were added at an unknown date. The cemetery also contains one replacement fence post (date unknown) and two modern metal benches.

Overview of cemetery looking east (2008)

View of Conger plot headstones looking northwest (2008)

Overall view of cemetery looking west (2008)

Overall view of the cemetery from eastern boundary looking west (2008)

View of headstones and box tombs looking west (2008)

View of ledger tomb looking west (2008)

View of cemetery from Jackson Street sidewalk looking southeast (2008)

View of cemetery gate from Jackson Street sidewalk looking east (2008)

Old Athens Cemetery marker placed by the Colonial Dames XVII Century, Thomas Miller Chapter looking south (2008)

View of Lampkin plot looking north (2008)

View of Carlton-Felton-Lyle plot looking northeast (2008)

View of White plot looking east (2008)

View of McDonald plot looking northeast (2008)

Graham plot with box tombs looking northeast (2008)

Cole plot looking northeast (2008)

View of brick vault looking northeast (2008)

View of Conger plot looking east (2008)

Overall view of cemetery looking east (2008)

View of box tombs looking northeast (2008)

Overall view of cemetery looking north (2008)

View of Lampkin plot looking east (2008)

Edward Lampkin obelisk looking east (2008)

View of headstones and landscaping looking east (2008)
