When I said I wanted to head to the great outdoors for my next post, I never specified it would be something fuzzy or romantic, like the botanical garden (though I do want to go there) or a roadside oddity, like I go to so many other times.
I mean, I guess technically graveyards could be considered romantic. Or creepy. Or spooky. Or just weird.
I've never been afraid of cemeteries. I think zombie apocalypses are unlikely and ridiculous. Visiting graves of family members doesn't really make me sad, either. Maybe that's in part to the side of me that follows the family tradition of genealogy, though. A grave marker isn't a finish line for us genealogists, it's merely a checkpoint.
I think I've been to Alta Vista Cemetery more than I've been to any other cemetery. Aside from Daughters of the American Revolution activities there, like grave markings, wreath layings and the Patriots Park we keep up, many of Brenau's past presidents are buried there.
My senior year of college I thought it would just be plumb hilarious if I picked a beat for a news writing class that was "dead people" with the justification that people die every day, so I'd always have something to talk about. Willing to call me on my hijinks, my professor told me to do it.
That's how I ended up tromping around Alta Vista cemetery at 8 a.m. one sunny Thursday morning back in 2013.
Not all of them are maintained for life, like many family cemeteries, and can fall into disrepair or fade into the overgrown grass. Alta Vista, however, is a perpetual care cemetery, and is maintained by the city of Gainesville, and has been for over 140 years.
That information is a good sign, especially since the fun part about the rolling 75 acres in Alta Vista is the interesting people buried there - and finding a local legend with a grave in disrepair is more gut-wrenching than you'd think.
The placard outside the gates on Jesse Jewell Parkway memorializes James Longstreet, a Civil War Lt. General (who will get his own little feature here later on) most notably remembered for being General Lee's "Old Warhorse." He, along with several other civil war soldiers, are buried alongside three Revolutionary War veterans.
Before we get off the political heroes in the cemetery, two former Georgia governors - James Milton Smith and Allen Daniel Candler - are both buried there. Candler County is named after Allen Candler and Richard E. Banks is also buried there, the namesake of Banks County.
I previously mentioned some Brenau past presidents were buried there. That includes almost all of them, actually, and their families: Rev. W.C. Wilkes, Azor Van Hoose. Dr. H.J. Pearce, and Dr. Josiah Crudup.
And, we've got a few more notable people spending their eternal resting place in Gainesville: Football stand out Billy Lothridge; astronaut Sonny Carter; circus performer Maude Mooney - better known as trapeze artist Millie Vortex; physician E.E. Butler; and poultry pioneer Jesse Jewell.
The cemetery is actually several cemeteries merged together, including at least one family cemetery, an African American cemetery and the old municipal cemetery, which the city bought several acres to create in 1872.
If anything else, Alta Vista is home to many unique and personal headstones. Ranging from the carving of the twirling Mademoiselle Vortex, to statues, obelisks, mausoleums and of course, endearing inscriptions to remember the loved ones lost.
The gates of Alta Vista are open from dawn until dusk each day, you can pay a visit by driving straight in the gates on Jesse Jewell and parking wherever you so desire. Rumor is the cemetery's paved streets used to be actual, trafficked roads. Not a cut through after dark for the faint of heart.
The early morning I visited Alta Vista with a friend, we tromped through the dewy grass, on a mission. It was a cool morning, as we accomplished my project, the sun crept overhead, illuminating the graveyard, the soft green grass, the white stones sparkling as the sun hit them, and another day in paradise began.
To get to Alta Vista, head down Jesse Jewell and turn into the gates across from the J&J Foods. Gates are open during daylight hours. With this nice weather, sit a spell at Patriots Park, maintained by the Col. William Candler Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (also known as my chapter!) in the front left corner.
Until next week,
Stay curious.
