Southern Graves

[This was originally written for the Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal and posted there last week. I'm hoping a repost here will provide some additional exposure for the Ocmulgee National Monument for readers who may have missed it.] Take a look at this photo: Archeologists estimate this mound that appears to be just dirt and grass contains about 100 human remains. It is a funeral mound of the Muscogee (Creek) Native Americans that settled along the Ocmulgee River more than one thousand years ago in what is today Macon, Georgia. This mound and several others are located within the boundaries of protected lands known as the Ocmulgee National Monument. It is estimated that people have lived in the Macon area for thousands of years, dating back to the Ice Age. For the purposes of this article, we are focusing on a much later era. The “Mississippian Period” approximately dates from the year 900 to 1650. At the earliest it was a new way of life on the Macon Plateau, believed...

Alonzo M. Ivey Born Dec 17, 1874 Died July 24, 1891 Dear Alonzo is at rest. Snow Springs Cemetery; Dooly County, Georgia Photo © 2010 S. Lincecum

As some of you may know, I also author a few other blogs besides this one. One of them is all about a cemetery I dearly love, Rose Hill in Macon, Georgia. I've recently been conducting some research regarding an eleven year old girl buried there. Her real name was Mary Eliza Guerineau, but she was know as "Little Mary Marsh." She was a member of a travelling juvenile comedians troupe founded by her father. On a night in late January of 1859, her dress caught fire while she was performing at the Old Ralston Hall in Macon. She suffered severe burns over her entire body and died shortly after the accident. Using various sources, I was able to find newspaper articles telling of her death (from all across the United States) and even describing her tombstone. I found a playbill for the act she was performing on the night of the accident, and I was even able to get a photo of the building where the Old Ralston Hall was located. It's a fascinating yet tragic story. ...

Snow Spring Cemetery Photos from Snow Springs Cemetery are now online. This church graveyard is also known as Snow Cemetery as well as Snow Methodist Church Cemetery. It is located near Unadilla in Dooly County, Georgia. Surnames included in the online photo album are Carroll, Clewis, Fitzgerald, Ivey, Kimsey, McCorvey, Moore, Peavey, Sangster, Sentelle, Sullivan, Sumerford, Sutton, Thompson, and Woodruff. To view the images individually or in a slideshow, click the image above or here . Stop by! You'll see all the sights I saw, and they're not all tombstones. :-)

Gone Home Neil McCorvey Born Sept 20, 1818 Died June 4, 1897 He followed virtue as his truest guide. Lived as a Christian -- As a Christian died. Snow Springs Cemetery; Dooly County, Georgia Photo © 2010 S. Lincecum

Susie May was born 1 October 1895 to William B. (1861-1938) and Mary Frances Woodruff (1863-1946). She died 26 May 1904 and was laid to rest at Snow Springs Cemetery in Dooly County, Georgia. Her parents joined her many years later. On the top of little Susie May's tombstone is a dove and anchor. The dove represents purity, peace, and the Holy Ghost. It is written in John 1:32 - And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove ... The anchor underneath the dove represents hope. It is written in Hebrews 6:19 -- Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast ... The virtue of Hope when artistically sculpted in human form is almost always seen with an anchor.

I absolutely adore the fall season. It is positively my favorite time of year. Fall means football, chilly mornings, and beautifully breezy afternoons. It means pumpkin pie, apple cider with Savannah cinnamon, and the promise of more family time soon. It also means it's time for Mom to break out the scarecrows and bales of hay to display in her front yard. The season of fall also promises breathtaking scenery, not only around my home and in the mountains of Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina (just to name a few), but also in the cemetery. The bright colors of the fall are different from the bright colors of spring. The reds, oranges, browns, and golds actually remind me of the passage of time. Walks in the cemetery are filled with pauses. Not only for photographs, but for moments of reflection and wonders for the ones who came before me whose footsteps I'm possibly retracing. It is easy to immerse myself in a cemetery on a crisp fall day. In October of last y...

James Rufus Sullivan PFC US Army Jul 10, 1931 - Apr 1, 2008 Born in Dooly County, Georgia to Norman Rufus & Sallie Wright Sullivan.  Laid to rest in Snow Springs Cemetery near Unadilla, GA.

Carol Evelyn, daughter of James A. and Willie F. Fitzgerald, spent just five short days on this earth. Her little body was laid to rest in Snow Spring Church Cemetery at Snow Spring (Unadilla), Georgia. The lamb placed on top of her tombstone symbolizes purity, innocence, and Christ. It is a common find on infant markers. I think Carol's lamb is one of the cutest I've seen. It looks almost like a stuffed animal!