Westview Cemetery

Westview Cemetery, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest civilian cemetery in the Southeastern United States, comprising more than 582 acres (2.36 km²), 50% of which is undeveloped. (Georgia National Cemetery, for military veterans and their families, covers 775 acres.) Westview includes the graves of more than 100,000 people.[1]

Westview Cemetery

Westview Cemetery Abbey in Distance
Details
Established	October of 1884
Location	1680 Westview Drive, SW
Coordinates	33.746162°N 84.443142°W
Type	Non-profit
Size	582 acres (2.36 km^2)
No. of graves	100,000+
Website	westviewcemetery.com
Find a Grave	Westview Cemetery

History

The land that would become Westview Cemetery was the site of a portion of the Battle of Ezra Church, a Civil War battle.[2] The cemetery was established in 1884[3] on Atlanta's west side when Oakland Cemetery was mostly filled out. Over 582 acres (2.36 km²) were purchased by a private corporation,[4] headed by E. P. McBurney.[5] The main gate is one of the oldest standing structures in Atlanta. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

Structures

Interior of Florence Candler Chapel, Westview Cemetery

• Westview Abbey - a mausoleum and chapel, was built in 1943 and houses 11,444 entombments and space to hold cremated remains. 27 stained glass panels adorn the Romanesque chapel and depicts Jesus Christ's life from nativity through crucifixion and resurrection. A mural entitled Faith, Hope and Charity depicts four Christian parables in its artwork.
• The Receiving Tomb - was built in 1888 and once held bodies waiting to be processed and buried. Wagons, and in later years vehicles, carrying the deceased could not get down the muddy cemetery roads during heavy rains. The marble and brick receiving tomb was also used to house an excess of bodies during the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918.[6]
• The Water Tower - was built in 1921 and may be mistaken for a battlefield look-out point but was only used to hold water. The top of the tower is an example of a crenellated adornment, making it look more like a castle than the roof of a water tower.
• The Confederate Memorial - was erected in 1889 by The Confederate Veterans Association of Fulton County to honor its fallen soldiers. The monument features a stone soldier holding a flag and standing on top of small cannonballs. Two Cohorn mortars lie just beyond a circle of Confederate graves and mark a path leading to the historic monument.

Notable interments

• The entire Adair clan[7]

View of grave stones in cemetery

• Jim Bagby, Sr., the first pitcher to hit a home run in a modern World Series[8]
• Bob Barrett, Major League Baseball player in the 1920s and 1930s.[9]
• Russell L. Beutell, architect of the Buckhead Theatre, among other buildings[10]
• John S. Bigby, U.S. Representative from Georgia[11]
• Marion L. Brittain, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1922 to 1944[10]
• Charles M. Brown, politician and namesake of Charlie Brown Field[10]
• William Butt, eighth mayor of Atlanta (1854 - 1855)[10]
• Asa Candler, businessman, owner of Coca-Cola[12]
• Asa G. Candler, Jr., son of Asa Candler, Sr., former owner of the cemetery and builder of the Westview Cemetery Abbey and Chapel.[12]
• Herman Cain, politician.
• John S. Cohen, U.S. Senator from Georgia[12][13]
• Laurent DeGive, Belgian diplomat and entrepreneur who built Loew's Grand Theatre[14]
• Willis F. Denny, architect of Rhodes Hall and St. Mark United Methodist Church[14]
• Dolla, rapper who charted with "Who the Fuck Is That?"[10]
• John Owen Donaldson, World War I flying ace, for whom Donaldson Air Force Base was named.[15]
• Hugh M. Dorsey, Governor of Georgia from 1917 to 1921.[16]
  

  Front façade of Westview Abbey
• Edward Emmett Dougherty, architect of Druid Hills Baptist Church and the Imperial Hotel[16]
• Walter T. Downing, architect of Healey Building and Westview's 1890 gatehouse[16]
• John J. Eagan (ACIPCO), industrialist
• James Douglas Edgar, golfer, winner of the Canadian Open[17]
• Vernon Forrest, professional boxer who was a four-time, two-weight world champion[18]
• Y. Frank Freeman, executive for Paramount Pictures, winner of two Oscars[19]
• Frank Gordy, founder of The Varsity[20]
• Henry W. Grady, journalist and orator, namesake of Grady Memorial Hospital and Henry W. Grady High School[20]
• L.P. Grant, for whom Grant Park is named,[20] was on the original board of Westview[4]
• Samuel Green, a Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the late 1940s[20]
• John R. Gunn, minister, columnist and author[20]
• Lyman Hall, president of Georgia School of Technology from 1896 to 1905[21]
• Gladys Hanson, stage and screen actress[14]
• Joel Chandler Harris, newspaperman and author of "Uncle Remus"[21]
• William Berry Hartsfield, Mayor of Atlanta (1937-1941 and 1942-1962) and namesake of the Atlanta Airport[21]
• Ernest Hartsock, poet associated with Oglethorpe University[21]
• J. J. Haverty, of furniture retailer Haverty's and the Rhodes-Haverty Building[21]
• Alice Hawthorne, victim of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing[22]
• Daniel Whitehead Hicky, poet and columnist[23]
• Donald L. Hollowell, civil rights attorney[24]
• Evan Howell, politician, early telegraph operator, Confederate Army officer[25]
• Vivian Malone Jones, civil rights activist[26]
• James C. "Chris" Kelly, half of the rap duo Kris Kross[26]
• James L. Key, mayor of Atlanta 1919–1923 and 1931–1937[26]
• George Edward King, hardware store founder[26]
  

  Memorial Monument for George King of King Hardware Stores in Atlanta
• Enrico Leide, cellist, first conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (1920-1930)[27]
• Helen Dortch Longstreet, journalist, first woman to run for office in Georgia[28]
• Evelyn G. Lowery, civil rights activist[27]
• Joseph Lowery, 3rd president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Ralph Emerson McGill, journalist and civil rights leader[29]
• Benjamin Mays, President of Morehouse College[30]
• Livingston Mims, mayor of Atlanta from 1901 to 1903[29]
• Jim Mitchell, football tight end for the Atlanta Falcons, coach for Morehouse College and Morris Brown College[31]
• Arthur James Moore, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church[29]
• Cleland Kinloch Nelson, Episcopal bishop[29]
• Frances Newman, novelist[29]
• Bill Paschal, football running back for Georgia Tech and the New York Giants[32]
• William H. Peck, poet and author[33]
• Edward C. Peters, real estate developer, owner of Edward C. Peters House[33]
• G. Lloyd Preacher, architect of Atlanta City Hall, Briarcliff Hotel and Medical Arts Building[33]
• Isaac Newton Ragsdale, mayor of Atlanta from 1927 to 1931[33]
  

  Atlanta mayor Isaac N. Ragsdale's headstone at left
• Amos G. Rhodes, of Rhodes Furniture, the Rhodes-Haverty Building and Rhodes Hall[33]
• Walter H. Rich and Richard H. "Dick" Rich, two presidents of the Rich's department store chain[33]
• Harry Van Buren Richardson, theologian, writer, and the first president of the Interdenominational Theological Center[33]
• Frank Mason Robinson, creator of the name and logo of Coca-Cola[34]
• Nick Rogers, football linebacker who played for Georgia Tech and in the NFL[35]
• William Lindsay Scruggs, author, lawyer and diplomat[34]
• Robert Shaw, conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra[34]
• Jerry Randolph Smith, co-pilot on the Southern Airways Flight 932 crash in 1970[36]
• Rankin M. Smith Sr., businessman, philanthropist & owner of Atlanta Falcons[37]
• Frank Lebby Stanton, first poet laureate of Georgia, lyricist of "Just Awearyin' for You"[37]
• Louise Suggs, professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour[38]
• Isaac T. Tichenor, president of Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama 1872-1881[38]
• Dorothy Rogers Tilly, civil rights activist[38]
• Charles Davis Tillman, early influence on southern gospel music[38]
• Henry Holcombe Tucker, chancellor of the University of Georgia and president of Mercer University[38]
• Nedra Tyre, author (ashes spread on her mother's grave)[39]
• C. T. Vivian, civil rights leader[40]
• Horace Taliaferro Ward, first African American to serve as a United States District Judge in Georgia[39]
• B. Frank Whelchel, a U.S. Representative from Georgia[39][41]
• Robert Woodruff, businessman, President of Coca-Cola[42]
• Anna Irwin Young, a charter member of the American Mathematical Association (in 1916).

Former interments

Atlanta University President Edmund Asa Ware was buried in a plot that straddled the then-segregated white and African-American sections of the cemetery in 1885. His body was moved to a memorial on the A.U. campus nine years later.[43] Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen Jr. was buried at Westview when he died in 2003,[44] but he was reinterred at Oakland Cemetery in 2009.[45]

Location

The cemetery is located at 1680 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30310. Its telephone number is [phone]. The office is open Monday-Friday 9-5 and Saturday 9:30-2 and is closed on Sunday. Gates are open from 8 am until 5:30 pm every day except Christmas and Thanksgiving. The site is a fifteen-minute walk from the West Lake MARTA station.

See also

• List of oldest structures in Atlanta
• Westview Neighborhood

References

Notes

1. Westview Home, Westview Cemetery, retrieved 2009-01-28
2. "Battle of Ezra Church, Westview Cemetery"
3. The History of Westview, Westview Cemetery, archived from the original on January 3, 2012, retrieved January 28, 2009
4. Clemmons 2018, p. 28.
5. Clemmons 2018, p. 29.
6. "Atlanta, Georgia and the 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic | The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918: A Digital Encyclopedia". www.influenzaarchive.org. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
7. Clemmons 2018, p. 159.
8. James Charles Jacob Bagby, Sr at Find a Grave
9. Robert Schley “Bob/Jumbo” Barrett at Find a Grave
10. Clemmons 2018, p. 161.
11. United States Congress. "BIGBY, John Summerfield, (1832 - 1898) (id: B000452)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved September 11, 2018."BIGBY, John Summerfield, (1832 - 1898)". Find a Grave. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
12. Clemmons 2018, p. 162.
13. United States Congress. "COHEN, John Sanford (id: C000597)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved September 11, 2018."COHEN, John Sanford". Find a Grave. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
14. Clemmons 2018, p. 163.
15. John Owen Donaldson at Find a Grave
16. Clemmons 2018, p. 164.
17. Rylands, Traci. "Atlanta's Other Golf Great: The Mysterious Death of J. Douglas Edgar". Retrieved September 10, 2018.
18. Vernon “The Viper” Forrest at Find a Grave
19. "Y. F. Freeman Dies; Movie Executive". Atlanta Constitution. 7 February 1969. p. 41. Retrieved September 10, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
20. Clemmons 2018, p. 166.
21. Clemmons 2018, p. 167.
22. Clemmons 2018, p. 150.
23. "Daniel Hickey Dies; Columnist and Poet". Atlanta Constitution. July 20, 1976. p. 2C. Retrieved September 10, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
24. Donald Lee Hollowell at Find a Grave
25. Capt Evan Park Howell at Find a Grave
26. Clemmons 2018, p. 169.
27. Clemmons 2018, p. 170.
28. Gardner, Sarah E. (May 9, 2003). "Helen Dortch Longstreet (1863-1962)". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
29. Clemmons 2018, p. 171.
30. Benjamin Mays at Find a Grave
31. Jim Mitchell at Find a Grave
32. "William A. Paschal". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. May 26, 2003. Retrieved September 10, 2018 – via Legacy.com.
33. Clemmons 2018, p. 173.
34. Clemmons 2018, p. 174.
35. Nick Rogers at Find a Grave
36. "J.R. Smith Services Today; Southern Airways Co-Pilot". The Atlanta Constitution. November 18, 1970. p. 9B – via newspapers.com.
37. Clemmons 2018, p. 175.
38. Clemmons 2018, p. 176.
39. Clemmons 2018, p. 177.
40. Suggs, Ernie; Stafford, Leon (July 23, 2020). "We loved Dr. C.T. Vivian". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on July 25, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
41. United States Congress. "WHELCHEL, Benjamin Frank (id: W000343)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved September 11, 2018."WHELCHEL, Benjamin Frank". Find a Grave. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
42. "About the Foundation - Robert W. Woodruff". Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
43. Clemmons 2018, p. 34.
44. Bruner, Tasgola Karla (July 7, 2003). "Ivan Allen Jr. 1911-2003: Voice of unity warmly recalled". Atlanta Constitution. pp. B1–B2. Retrieved September 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Allen's funeral will be at 2 p.m. today at the First Presbyterian Church....Burial will follow at Westview Cemetery.
45. Sweeney, Kate (March 2, 2014). "The cemetery's cemetery". Atlanta Constitution. pp. E1, E10. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved September 11, 2018. For a long time there was a dispute over the number of Atlanta mayors buried at Oakland....Former Mayor Ivan Allen was moved here from another cemetery in 2009.

Sources

• Clemmons, Jeff (2018). Atlanta's Historic Westview Cemetery. Charleston: History Press. ISBN 9781626199675. OCLC 1011155129. Retrieved September 8, 2018 – via Google Books.
• Bayne, John Soward (2014). Atlanta's Westview Cemetery. Atlanta: Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1312271043. OCLC 908694941.

External links

• Westview Cemetery web site
• Westview Cemetery at Find A Grave