Holdouts

(Hart Cemetery, 2010)

I could fill an entire blog with Atlanta's holdout cemeteries. You see them encircled by interstate cloverleafs and sandwiched between parking lots. The National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act prevent their erasure, so these spooky little burial grounds dot the edges of Home Depots and McDonalds all over the metro area.

There are still 2 graveyards inside the "world's busiest" airport– Hart Cemetery and Flat Rock Cemetery. The runways, built high on trapezoidal green hills, form these pockets of stillness. Overhead, the cruising fins of aircraft, the ceaseless breeze, and the white drone of air traffic seem to circulate around a quiet, unchanging core.

(Flat Rock Cemetery)

Comments

[Chuck]

Beautiful.

[hspalmer]

Chuck! Thanks for the encouragement

[Poor White Trisha]

I always wondered about those graves in the cloverleaf on I-75 sb at cleveland ave.

[hspalmer]

Trisha– me too! Thanks for the assignment...

[Poor White Trisha]

Your welcome..be careful

[poor white Trisha]

more info..it's called the Jeremiah S. Gilbert Memorial Cemetary..here is a link to the GA state historical marker

http://www.lat34north.com/historicmarkers/LargePhoto.cfm?keyId=060-199&PicSuffix=&MarkerTitle=Gilbert%20Memorial%20Cemetery

[hspalmer]

Thanks Trisha! Interesting that this is a "memorial" cemetery. Let's go explore this spot soon. Email me: hannah (at) strongsilent (dot) com

[Todd]

Are you guys going goth now? Seriously though, as my time continues here on the southside I have noticed more and more often these small pockets of resistance that have formed against the tide of development. Unfortunately it seems like the dead often are the ones putting up any resistance at all. Thanks.