Interesting Facts About Cemeteries

Interesting Facts About Cemeteries

It is somewhat interesting to make some notations regarding cemeteries and the manner in which they were once so prominent in our history.

We have all heard stories of Civil War surgeons performing surgeries in graveyards. While we all assumed that the reasoning was likely because so many soldiers died during or after surgery that it was more convenient to perform battlefield surgeries there, the truth is very different.

While I am not personally aware of any such gravestones in the Metro Atlanta area (although I remain sure that there are), many cemeteries had what are known as tablestones for graves. These tablestones were exactly what they sound like - tables on top of graves. These "tables" were, often, some of the most accessible tables for surgery and were utilized as such.

In many cemeteries, older graves leave a depression in the ground, rather than a mound. This has nothing to do with the graves having collapsed. Rather, it has to do with the manner in which the graves were built. In olden times, before we had crypts that housed caskets, as the graves were dug, a ledge was left at a certain height. The casket was lowered beyond that point, and a piece of wood was placed on the ledge. The purpose of the oak was to ensure that the weight of the dirt did not cause the casket to collapse. As the oak deteriorated, the dirt above it gave way and fell further in. Once a year, the family would come to the grave and would decorate the grave with flowers and things of that nature. While there, the family would also fill in the "dimple" of the grave with additional dirt. Of course, in cemeteries such as Old Allatoona Cemetery, the families have not been there is more than 50 or so years and little, if any, care has been given these old graveyards.

While GNIS indicates the existence of 192 cemeteries in Cobb County, Georgia, there are actually between 236 to 240 cemeteries. Of those cemeteries, only 7 are commercial cemeteries. The remainder are family cemeteries (with as few and 1 grave), church cemeteries (some where the church is no longer in existence or has changed names numerous times), many privately-owned cemeteries (cemeteries on private lands that were present when purchased and continued to exist there), city-owned cemeteries (Smyrna, Rose Hill in Austell and others), a state-owned cemetery (Confederate Cemetery in Marietta) and one federally-owned cemetery (Marietta National Cemetery with over 18,000 graves on Roswell Street in Marietta). Additionally, there are several cemeteries in Roswell that were actually located within Cobb County until 1932.