Category Archives: Famous People

-Illinois, Cemeteries, Famous People

Al Capone’s Grave: The Gravesite that Launched Find a Grave

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If you’re in Chicago and love cemeteries, it’s obligatory to visit Mount Carmel Cemetery. There’s the Italian Bride and the famous spinning marker (posts coming later on those), but it’s most famous resident is Al Capone.

Capone became a mob boss by the age of 26, went to prison by 33, and died right after he turned 48. Upon his death in Florida, his body was transported back to Chicago to be buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery. By 1952, he was moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery after his mother passed. He is in a family plot.

For those who spend a lot of time on FindAGrave, you know that the site was started because the creator, Jim Tipton, visited Al Capone’s grave and realized that others might be excited to see his grave. The site began in 1996. In a 2000 article in USA Today, he shares, ‘People come and pour their hearts out because they’re writing (about) their dead mother or father. I feel oddly voyeuristic, but a lot of people have written me saying it gives a sense of closure.’ At the time the article was published, the site had 2.5 million graves. Today, there over 265 million memorials listed.

-Georgia, -South Carolina, Black History, Famous People, Houses

Jesse Jackson’s Childhood Home-Greenville, South Carolina

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Located on Haynie Street, Jesse Jackson grew up in this house in Greenville, South Carolina. Born on October 8, 1941, Jackson graduated from Sterling High School. Known as a leader in high school, Jackson became known as one of the members of the “Greenville 8,” eight men and women who entered the Greenville public libraries to desegregate them.

Jackson’s mother, Helen Burns Jackson, lived in Greenville until she died in 2015.

-Georgia, Black History, Famous People, National Register of Historic Places, Signs

The Newly Renovated Prince Hall Grand Masonic Lodge in Atlanta, Georgia

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Located in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn Historic District, the Prince Hall Masonic Temple is a major site within the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park and one of the city’s most significant historic buildings. Built in 1937 with a 1941 addition, the Renaissance Revival–style building was funded by John Wesley Dobbs and designed by Charles Hopson and Ross Howard as a meeting place for the Prince Hall Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star.

The windowless office of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1957, the building became the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. following the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Dr. King’s office and the SCLC operated on the first floor, with staff including Ella Baker, Andrew Young, and Dorothy Cotton. After Dr. King’s assassination, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy continued SCLC leadership here. The second floor housed WERD, the nation’s first Black-owned radio station.

Old stickers left in an old office space on the 1st Floor

Fully restored by Lord Aeck Sargent, the building continues to serve the SCLC. It has been renovated into approximately 16,000 square feet of multi-use space, with the National Park Service sharing educational exhibits on the first floor. Local businesses will occupy the upper levels while the Masons will continue to use the space on the 3rd Floor.

Images from the 2nd Floor where WERD broadcast
The Masons meeting room
Lodge meeting schedule found under old paint
Order of the Eastern Star meeting space
-Georgia, Cemeteries, Famous People, National Register of Historic Places

The Grave of Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly of Westview Cemetery, Atlanta

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Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly (1978–2013) was one half of the legendary ’90s rap duo Kris Kross, known for their 1992 hit “Jump.” Discovered by Jermaine Dupri at the Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta, Georgia, Chris Kelly and Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith became instant icons with their signature backward clothes. At the time, they were the youngest duo to break into hip-hop.

Unfortunately, his life was cut short in 2013 due to drug overdose. His final resting place is in Westview Cemetery.

The black-and-white image is courtesy of Wikipedia.

-Georgia, -North Carolina, -South Carolina, -Tennessee, Abandoned, Cemeteries, Famous People, Hotels and Motels, Houses, National Register of Historic Places, Signs, Stores, Vernacular Headstones

The Year in Review-Top Ten Posts of 2024

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Thank you for joining me in my travels around the South. It’s been a great year of wandering backroads and a few main ones. If I learned anything, it is that people love abandoned houses, buildings with unexpected histories, and (in)famous graves.

Cleveland DeLuxe Cottages-A Georgia Motel with a Connection to the Cabbage Patch Kids
The Grave of Moses Harshaw-The Story of “The Meanest Man Alive” in Clarkesville, Georgia
The Krispy Kreme of Spartanburg, South Carolina
Lone Oak Motel in Toccoa, Georgia was the Final Home of R&B singer Dee Clark
Briarcliff, The Mansion of Asa “Buddie” Candler Jr. In Atlanta, Georgia
The Graves of The McCrary Twins-World’s Largest Twins
The James and Lily Gaines House of Adairsville, Georgia
The William Knight House-The First Lustron Built in Georgia Still Stands Today
The Tent Graves of Stamps Cemetery in Putnam County, Tennessee
Coca-Cola Building of Spartanburg, South Carolina
-North Carolina, Cemeteries, Famous People

Hair Clips and $1.87-The Gifts Left on O. Henry’s Grave

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William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. Porter’s pen name was O. Henry. A prolific short story writer, his most famous story is “The Gift of the Magi,” a story about a husband and wife who struggle to afford Christmas gifts and their determination to buy the perfect gift for each other.

Buried in Asheville’s Riverside Cemetery, visitors frequently leave $1.87 on his grave, the amount Della possessed in savings at the story’s beginning, and hair clips.

If you’ve never read the story or want to reread it, you can read it for free on Google Play Books.