Rose Hill Cemetery (Macon, Georgia)

Rose Hill Cemetery is a 50-acre cemetery located on the banks of the Ocmulgee River in Macon, Georgia, United States, that opened in 1840.[3][4] Simri Rose, a horticulturist and designer of the cemetery, was instrumental in the planning of the city of Macon and planned Rose Hill Cemetery in return for being able to choose his own burial plot.[5] The cemetery is named in his honor.[3]

Rose Hill Cemetery
Entrance in April 2014
LocationRiverside Dr., Macon, Georgia
Coordinates32°50′52″N 83°38′1″W
Built1840
ArchitectRose, Simri
NRHP reference No.73000611[1][2]
Added to NRHPOctober 09, 1973
Graves of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley

Rose Hill Cemetery was a hangout and artistic inspiration for the Allman Brothers Band during their early years. The Allman Brothers' slide guitarist Duane Allman, keyboardist and vocalist Gregg Allman, drummer Butch Trucks and bassist Berry Oakley are interred here.[6]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[2]

Construction

Simri Rose, Ambrose Baber, Levi Eckley, and R. W. Willis were commissioned in 1836 to find a place for what would become Macon's third cemetery (Fort Hill Cemetery and Old City Cemetery were the first and second, respectively.)[7] The committee decided to establish the cemetery outside of the city because the land there was less expensive.[8] As a horticulturist, Simri Rose was personally involved in deciding the location and type of trees and flowers. Rose Hill Cemetery was originally designed to be a garden cemetery with landscaping, similar to Mount Auburn Cemetery, as it was intended to function as both a cemetery and a local park.[7] Dirt paths through the cemetery were intentionally wide enough to allow easy access for carriages. Two bridges were built across ravines to allow easy access to other parts of the cemetery.[9]

Cemetery sections

The cemetery has one Catholic section for Saint Joseph's Catholic Church and seven Jewish sections: Hebrew Lot, Jew Lot, New Hebrew Lot, Polish Lot, Russian Lot, Sherah Israel, and William Wolff.[10][11] Oak Ridge, a section within Rose Hill Cemetery that was created in 1851, is the final resting place for an unknown number of slaves.[12][13] Soldier's Square holds around 600 Confederate troops.[8]

Current condition

Many factors contribute to the cemetery's change in appearance. Age and exposure to the elements weathered marble statues and tombstones. Most of the dirt paths were paved between 1927 and 1960.[9] Overcrowding contributed to the change in appearance not only because more people were taking up more room, but because digging new graves would damage the roots of nearby trees.[14] A tornado on March 13, 1954, also uprooted many trees.[15] The addition of a railroad in 1881 cut off access to the Ocmulgee River and Interstate 16 added traffic noise.[9]

The cemetery is part of a self-guided walking tour of Macon and is the site of the semi-annual Rose Hill Ramble sponsored by the Middle Georgia Historical Society.[16]

Notable interments
  • Simri Rose's monument
  • The Jones family plot
  • Robert Birdsong's monument
  • Ross/West family plot

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Macgregor, Elizabeth Z. (June 27, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Rose Hill Cemetery". National Park Service. Retrieved July 30, 2018. With 16 photos from March 1971
  3. Cothran, James R., and Erica Danylchak (2018-01-31). Grave landscapes : the nineteenth-century rural cemetery movement. Columbia, South Carolina. p. 74. ISBN 9781611177992. OCLC 969439589.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Macgregor 1973, p. 2.
  5. "BIBB COUNTY, GA - BIOS Simrie Rose". USGenWeb. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  6. Purser, Becky (June 3, 2017). "'We were blown away by all this': Hundreds of Gregg Allman fans gather for his burial". The Telegraph. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  7. Payne, Calder Willingham (1985). Rose Hill Rambles. Macon, Georgia: Middle Georgia Historical Society. pp. x.
  8. Hoyt Wansley Jr., James (2000). Rose Hill Cemetery and the Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway: The Impact of Integration. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia. p. 84.
  9. Hoyt Wansley Jr., James (2000). Rose Hill Cemetery and the Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway: The Impact of Integration. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia. p. 47.
  10. Payne, Calder Willingham (1985). Rose Hill Rambles. Macon, Georgia: Middle Georgia Historical Society. p. 13.
  11. Kaufman, Marian Waxelbaum; Kaufman, Gus Bernd (1997). The Jewish Burials of Macon, Georgia. Macon, Georgia. pp. I.
  12. Johnson, David (2016-09-28). "A piece of Macon history will soon be brought to life at Rose Hill Cemetery". WGXA. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  13. Dunlap, Stanley (July 2, 2016). "Unknown, forgotten could be recognized at historic Macon cemetery". macon. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
  14. Wansley Jr., James Hoyt (2000). Rose Hill Cemetery and the Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway: The Impact of Integration. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia. p. 51.
  15. "Tornado-ravaged obelisk repaired at Rose Hill Cemetery". macon. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
  16. "Rose Hill Cemetery". Historic Macon. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  17. Fabian, Liz (2014-03-06). "Melton lauded for helping shape 'the modern era in Macon'". The Telegraph (Macon). Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  18. "Hittin' The Web with The Allman Brothers Band :: FAQ". Allmanbrothersband.com. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
  19. Patterson, R. Gary (2004). Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-4423-0. pp. 42–43.
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