Historic Oakland Cemetery

Historic Oakland Cemetery is one of the most beautiful and revealing places in Atlanta, and it is free. Founded in 1850 as the city's municipal burial ground, when Atlanta was a young railroad town, it is the resting place of about 70,000 people, and walking its brick paths is a way to read the city's whole history in stone. The cemetery sits just east of downtown, between the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive edge of Grant Park and the Cabbagetown and Old Fourth Ward neighborhoods, and the downtown skyline rises dramatically over its walls. Inside, the landscape is a Victorian garden cemetery at its best: ornate mausoleums, angels and obelisks, wrought-iron fences, magnolias and old oaks, and heritage gardens kept by volunteers. It is also a mirror of the city's divisions and achievements. Among the famous graves are Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind; golf legend Bobby Jones; and Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first Black mayor. There are sections for the city's Jewish community, the African American grounds that reflect segregation in death as in life, a potter's field, and a large Confederate section with roughly 6,900 soldiers, which the cemetery interprets with historical context. The grounds are open dawn to dusk year-round; the Visitor Center and Oakland Store opens daily in the late morning through late afternoon, sells maps and water, and is the meeting point for the daily guided tour. Ticketed themed tours and seasonal events — including the popular Halloween tours — sell out, so book ahead.

Oakland's story mirrors Atlanta's. It was simply called Atlanta Cemetery at first, renamed for the oak trees on the grounds, and it expanded as the city grew from a frontier junction to the capital of the New South. During the Civil War, the Battle of Atlanta was watched from the area, and the cemetery received thousands of soldiers from both sides. Later decades brought grand family mausoleums from the city's builders and the separate, segregated burial grounds that today help visitors understand the history of race in the South. A severe tornado in 2008 damaged many monuments and trees, and the Historic Oakland Foundation, the nonprofit that partners with the City of Atlanta to care for the site, has spent years restoring them.

How to visit well: start at the Visitor Center near the main gate, pick up a map, and decide between the general guided tour, which leaves each morning, and exploring on your own. The guided tour is the best introduction, because guides explain symbols, family stories and the cemetery's design. Self-guided visitors should look for the Mitchell, Jones and Jackson graves, the Jewish sections, the African American grounds, the Bell Tower building and the view from the higher ground toward downtown. There is also a phone-based tour focused on African American voices. Specialty tours on themes such as art, nature and history run on set dates and are ticketed, and the Halloween tours in October are an Atlanta tradition that sells out fast.

Logistics are easy. The main gate is a seven- to ten-minute walk from the King Memorial MARTA station, and there is paid parking in a lot across from the cemetery and on nearby streets. Cabbagetown, the old mill village next door, has cafes, street art and some of the city's best barbecue, and the BeltLine and Krog Street Tunnel are a short walk north. Pair Oakland with the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park and Sweet Auburn for a deep eastside history day, or come in the late afternoon when the light on the monuments and skyline is golden.