Oconee Hill Cemetery Assessment, Athens-Clarke County, Georgia (Chicora Research Contribution 557)

Chicora Foundation, Inc.

From management summary: "The study examines Athens’ second oldest burial ground, used by the area’s citizens, black and white, rich and poor, beginning with its founding in 1856. While the Cemetery holds about 110 acres, only 39 acres in 22 sections are actively used for burials. The remainder of the acreage consists of undeveloped woodlands. The Cemetery is situated on both sides of the North Oconee River on the southeast side of Athens in central Clarke County. Ownership of the Cemetery is unclear. The Unified Government does not wish to expend funds on the Cemetery (although it has funded a local African American cemetery), but the Trustees have historically obtained permission from the local government for any significant action. A cemetery assessment is designed to help the cemetery caregivers to think about long-range preservation in a structured way, to better understand what is significant and why, and how it should be managed in order to preserve its historical significance and ensure the cemetery’s preservation for future generations. Issues of access, roads, security, landscape maintenance, and monuments are examined. Current conditions are detailed and recommendations are offered. In the case of Oconee Hill Cemetery limited funds and poor management have crippled the cemetery. Funds have been limited by the Cemetery’s adoption of mandatory perpetual care requirements very late in its history, increasing competition from more business-oriented cemeteries in the community, and the local government’s unwillingness to help ensure the preservation of this resource. Poor management is the result of a governance system that was flawed from its beginning and failed to insist on operating the cemetery as a business. It has been further crippled by a focus on finding excuses rather than solutions. As a result, over its 150 years of operation there has been significant deferred maintenance of roads, erosion problems, buildings, monuments, and grounds. This deferred maintenance has further crippled the cemetery’s ability to compete in the marketplace and has put off on future generations exceptional preservation costs." Project funding was provided in part by a 2013 Historic Preservation Fund grant to Athens-Clarke County (project number GA-13-019) administered by the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P13AF00064) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Athens-Clarke County, Georgia is a Certified Local Government.

Oconee Hill Cemetery Assessment, Athens-Clarke County, Georgia (Chicora Research Contribution 557)

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