At one point, it’s been documented that there were a handful of similar terra cotta markers like this one in the African American section at Memory Hill Cemetery. It is believed this marker was made at the McMillan Brick Company, a leading brickmaker in Milledgeville. It is believed the designs were made from stamps in the pottery shop at the brick factory.
The designs on this marker feature a sunflower, acanthus, and diaper (the crisscross pattern).
If you live in Georgia, you know about “Milledgeville” or Central State Hospital and its several thousand acre campus that, at its peak had over 13,000 patients being treated, or mistreated in many cases, for a variety psychiatric illnesses. It began in 1837, Georgia lawmakers approved the creation of a “Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum.” The Powell Building is one of the few remaining buildings still in use today. Most of the campus has fallen in disrepair.