Rose Hill Cemetery is a 50-acre cemetery located on the banks of the

Ocmulgee River The Ocmulgee River () is a western tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi (410 km) long, in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the westernmost major tributary of the Altamaha.Macon,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

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, that opened in 1840. 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. The cemetery is named in his honor. Rose Hill Cemetery was a hangout and

artistic inspiration Inspiration (from the Latin ''inspirare'', meaning "to breathe into") is a burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or visual art and other artistic endeavours without thinking. The concept has origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. The ...

for

the Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. Its founding members were brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar, lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards), as well as Dickey Betts ( ...

during their early years. The Allman Brothers' slide guitarist

Duane Allman Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock and blues guitarist and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

, keyboardist and vocalist

Gregg Allman Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman B ...

, drummer

Butch Trucks Claude Hudson "Butch" Trucks (May 11, 1947 – January 24, 2017) was an American drummer. He was best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Trucks was born ...

and bassist

Berry Oakley Raymond Berry Oakley III (April 4, 1948 – November 11, 1972) was an American bassist and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band. Known for his long, melodic bass runs, he was ranked number 46 on ''Bass Player'' magazine's l ...

are interred here. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1973.

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.) The committee decided to establish the cemetery outside of the city because the land there was less expensive. 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 Mount Auburn Cemetery, located in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is the first rural or garden cemetery in the United States. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahmins, and is a National Historic Landmark. Dedicated in ...

, as it was intended to function as both a cemetery and a local park. 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.

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. Oak Ridge, a section within Rose Hill Cemetery that was created in 1851, is the final resting place for an unknown number of slaves. Soldier's Square holds around 600 Confederate troops.

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. 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. A tornado on March 13, 1954, also uprooted many trees. The addition of a railroad in 1881 cut off access to the Ocmulgee River and

Interstate 16 Interstate 16 (I-16), also known as Jim Gillis Historic Savannah Parkway, is an east–west Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Georgia. It carries the hidden designation of State Route 404 (SR 404) for it ...

added traffic noise. 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.

Notable interments

Clifford Anderson Clifford Anderson (March 23, 1833 – December 19, 1899) was a Georgia politician, active in the politics of the state of Georgia and the Confederate States of America. Biography Anderson was born in Nottoway County, Virginia. He read law ...

Augustus Octavius Bacon Augustus Octavius Bacon (October 20, 1839February 14, 1914) was a Confederate soldier, segregationist, and U.S. politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. senator from Georgia, becoming the first senator to be directly ele ...

* Charles Lafayette Bartlett * John Birch *

James Henderson Blount James Henderson Blount (September 12, 1837 – March 8, 1903) was an American statesman, soldier and congressman from Georgia. He opposed the annexation of Hawaii in 1893 in his investigation into the American involvement in the political revolut ...

* Peter J. Bracken – engineer of stolen The Texas locomotive in the

Great Locomotive Chase The Great Locomotive Chase (a portion of the Andrews' Raid or the Mitchel Raid) was a military raid that occurred April 12, 1862, in northern Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia during the American Civil War. Volunteers from the Union Army, led by civ ...

* Alfred H. Colquitt * Philip Cook * Alfred H. Colquitt * Harry Stillwell Edwards * Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald * Samuel Francis Gove * LeRoy Wiley Gresham * Thomas Hardeman Jr. *

Nathaniel Edwin Harris Nathaniel Edwin Harris (January 21, 1846 – September 21, 1929) was an American lawyer and politician, and the 61st Governor of Georgia. Early life Harris was born in Jonesboro, Tennessee on January 21, 1846, to Edna (née Haynes) and Alex ...

* James Jackson – US Congressman, judge advocate in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, and a chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. * Henry Graybill Lamar *

John Basil Lamar John Basil Lamar (November 5, 1812 – September 15, 1862) was an American politician, lawyer, and planter. Biography Lamar was born in Milledgeville, Georgia. He attended the Franklin College, which later became the University of Georgia ...

* Buck Melton –

Mayor of Macon, Georgia The Mayor of Macon-Bibb County is the highest elected official in the consolidated city-county government of Macon and Bibb County, Georgia. The county was established in 1822, while the city was incorporated in 1823. Heads of the city were kno ...

(1975–79) * Elizabeth Reed Napier (1845–1935) – inspiration for the Allman Brothers song "

In Memory of Elizabeth Reed IN, In or in may refer to: Dans * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independen ...

" pp. 42–43. * Eugenius Aristides Nisbet *

* Oliver H. Prince * J. Neel Reid * Simri Rose – Rose Hill Cemetery's architect and designer * George Washington Bonaparte Towns * Edward D. Tracy *

Phil Walden Phil Walden (January 11, 1940 – April 23, 2006) was a co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records, along with former Atlantic Records executive Frank Fenter. Biography Walden received his undergraduate degree in economics from Ma ...

Blanton Winship Blanton C. Winship (November 23, 1869 – October 9, 1947) was an American military lawyer and veteran of both the Spanish–American War and World War I. During his career, he served both as Judge Advocate General of the United States Army and ...

– Major general of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, Judge Advocate General (1931–33), Governor of Puerto Rico (1934–39)

Gallery

File:Simri Rose's grave.jpg, Simri Rose's monument File:Rose Hill Cemetery Jone Family Plot.jpg, The Jones family plot File:Robert Birdsong monument.jpg, Robert Birdsong's monument File:Rose Hill Cemetery family plot.jpg, Ross/West family plot File:Rose Hill Cemetery, Bond family monument, circa 1877 - DPLA - 287eba95345e3450951f6cb09149bdc1.jpg, alt=Bond family monument, circa 1877, Bond family monument, circa 1877 File:Rose Hill Cemetery, Central Avenue from gate, circa 1877 - DPLA - deae43930a2b6359cf4c0abd0f1441ab.jpg, Central Avenue from gate, circa 1877 File:Rose Hill Cemetery, Confederate section, circa 1877 - DPLA - 244ed65652784314f1bbb3656f3f2b48.jpg, Rose Hill Cemetery, Confederate section, circa 1877 File:Rose Hill Cemetery, Central Avenue, circa 1877 - DPLA - 44e3d97b7bda807da7a44e009c11feca.jpg, Rose Hill Cemetery from Central Ave., circa 1877 File:Rose Hill Cemetery, circa 1877 - DPLA - 54c8fcca5a175d6dac363577ffc2d204.jpg, Rose Hill Cemetery, circa 1877 File:Rose Hill Cemetery, visitors' spring, circa 1877 - DPLA - 08edbf1d4cec84ac811c583a2e9f4ce8.jpg, Rose Hill Cemetery, visitors' spring, circa 1877

References

External links

Official History of Rose Hill Cemetery
* * {{National Register of Historic Places, state=collapsed 1840 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Landmarks in Macon, Georgia Protected areas of Bibb County, Georgia Geography of Macon, Georgia Tourist attractions in Macon, Georgia National Register of Historic Places in Bibb County, Georgia African-American cemeteries in Georgia (U.S. state) Cemeteries established in the 1840s