Georgia’s Historic Burial Grounds
Georgia’s Historic Burial Grounds
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The context offers a structured approach to assessing the historical significance of Georgia’s burial grounds through a three-part framework, encompassing a historical narrative, a toolkit for describing cemetery features and survey methods, and guidance on evaluating eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.
New South Associates, in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and in consultation with the Georgia Historic Preservation Division, completed a comprehensive context and handbook for Georgia’s historic burial grounds.
Burial grounds are unique, yet common, cultural resources, often containing multiple layers of historic context and material to survey and interpret. Cemeteries carry emotional significance within their respective communities and can provide a depth of historic and archaeological information, yet they can contain inherent challenges when identifying and evaluating as cultural properties for Section 106 of the National Register of Historic Places. Cemeteries are often considered shared resources for both historians and archaeologists and it is important that practitioners approach them with a shared understanding.
Due to the need for comprehensive guidance of this complex resource type, the Georgia Department of Transportation embarked on this initiative to create a statewide context.
This document is intended to aid Section 106 practitioners in identifying and evaluating burial grounds by providing an overall historical context that explores historic burial traditions, beliefs, cultural influences, and the funerary industry in Georgia. The document provides a narrative history on cemeteries in Georgia, creates a standard vocabulary to describe these spaces, and provides tools for Section 106 evaluations. The final document is the result of many years of research and field survey conducted by several determined professional historians and archaeologists.
Award
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s Excellence in Preservation Service Award for the Georgia Statewide Cemetery Context Award (2024)
National Council on Public History’s Outstanding Public History Project Award for the Georgia’s Historic Burial Grounds Historic Context (2024)