The Stories Of Cobb County Cemeteries

Jen Bonn

As Halloween approaches, images of ghosts and cemeteries are everywhere, but cemeteries hold an allure for me that goes beyond a spooky holiday. I think cemeteries are beautiful. They are memorials to the people we have loved, and each cemetery holds so many stories. Each stone is more than a grave, it is a life and the connections made during that life. A cemetery can tell the history of a community and the individual families within that community. My favorite cemeteries are the older ones with poems or letters to the deceased. They are pieces of art.

Cobb County has 236 cemeteries to visit including The Marietta National Cemetery and The Marietta Confederate Cemetery. This link will allow you to explore the cemeteries of Cobb County. https://cobbgagensoc.org/cemetery.htm

The Marietta Confederate Cemetery was created in 1863 for 20 confederate soldiers killed in a train wreck North of Marietta. After the Civil War, 3,000 confederate soldiers were recovered and buried there. Marietta was a major hospital town for the war, and the cemetery was used for the dead.

The Marietta National Cemetery was started by Henry Greene Cole. More than 17,000 men are buried there and 3,000 are unknown. At this site, you can search for individual information about people buried in the cemetery. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Marietta_National_Cemetery%2C_Marietta%2C_Georgia

Surgery was often performed in the cemeteries because many graves were toped with a table-like stone.

Searching cemetery records is one way to find more clues to your genealogy.

There is even a pet cemetery. https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2492072/atlanta-pet-cemetery

Consider a visit to a local cemetery to learn about the history, individual stories, and artistic beauty.

Here is a site for cemetery preservation https://www.cobbcounty.org/community-development/planning/historic-preservation/cemetery-preservation-commission