Oakland Cemetery was founded in 1850 at a time when Atlanta was booming and afterwards a convergence of five railroad tracks with met at what was called Five Points. The cemetery itself is garden-like with beautiful statues, arbors, huge sprawling oak trees, magnolias and blooming flora. Buried here are people like Margaret Mitchell of Gone With The Wind.
This monument is erected to the memory of all those Confederates who died during the Battle of Atlanta. It was from a hilltop in Oakland Cemetery that General John B. Hood watched Sherman's army burn Atlanta.
Many scenic statues and crypts make the cemetery a favorite historical site.
The entrance to Oakland Cemetery on 248 Oakland Avenue invites you to see who lived in Atlanta in the old days! Although the site was purportedly given as a cemetery in 1850, there is one indisputable fact as to who first owned this land.
The Rawson family was prominent in Atlanta and this beautiful mausoleum was erected for family members. Some old Atlanta families and histories have been included in Old Atlanta, a book published by Jeannette Holland Austin in 2007 to the Georgia Pioneers Website
Archibald Holland owned all of downtown Atlanta.
The first settlers to Atlanta came from many places, however, it is noteworthy to mention here that it was Archibald Holland who first owned all of downtown Atlanta in 1826. He drew it in the land lottery. At that time the area was Henry County and consisted of all of District 14 and plan No. 82, 202 1/2 acres which bordered North Avenue on the North, Northside Drive on the Eest, Luckie Street on the West and Simpson Street on the South. Archibald Holland's home was located on Capitol Avenue where his first son, William Edward Holland was born in 1826. The major complaint about the farm was that his cows were continuously getting bogged down in the mud and about 1836 he found another farm, this one located in Paulding County. Thus, Archibald Holland moved away from Atlanta. It is unknown whether he sold this plot of land, or what. An extensive genealogy has been written on the Holland Family from 1000 A. D. to 1988 and is available to members of Georgia Pioneers
Oakland Cemetery was founded in 1850 at a time when Atlanta was booming and afterwards a convergence of five railroad tracks with met at what was called Five Points. The cemetery itself is garden-like with beautiful statues, arbors, huge sprawling oak trees, magnolias and blooming flora. Buried here are people like Margaret Mitchell of Gone With The Wind.
