Newnan | To Die for Images

Oak Hill Cemetery started in 1833, but it didn’t get the name Oak Hill until the local newspaper ran a contest to name the cemetery in 1887. As an active cemetery with over 15,000 burials, the different markers represent funerary art over the years.

There are many notable people buried, many of whom were early settlers of the area. Several Victorian monuments grace part of the cemetery. I’ve visited the cemetery twice, 2014 and 2016. In that time, a major restoration has been done on several monuments. Photos of the changes are shown below.

The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

This is one of the most delicate works on a marble monument that is still fully intact I’ve ever seen. It can represent triumph over death.

The Bigby-Parrott family plot is the grandest in the cemetery. It also had the greatest amount of restoration work.

According to Newnan friends, this marker was on the ground over the years before it put back on its pedestal.

Captain. Tom Owen (1834-1862) died in Civil War battle near Richmond. His marker contains the Georgia state seal.

Coweta County

Built in 1937 by Willie Carlyle, the Powell Chapel School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The rural school served the local Black community until 1952.

The school is part of the greater property of the Powell United Methodist Church, but it is owned by a group of trustees.

Built initially as the Powell Chapel, the church, cemetery, and school sit on the land that once was a part of the Powell Plantation. The first church building was completed in the 1890s, but it burned in 1907.

The current brick structure was completed in 1920.

The cemetery is contains different areas with headstones. I am uncertain if cemetery is completely full. It is important because it has graves of many freedmen and women.