Westview Cemetery
Westview Cemetery, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest civilian cemetery in the Southeastern United States, comprising more than, 50% of which is undeveloped. Westview includes the graves of more than 100,000 people.
History
The land that would become Westview Cemetery was the site of a portion of the Battle of Ezra Church, a Civil War battle. The cemetery was established in 1884 on Atlanta's west side when Oakland Cemetery was mostly filled out. Over were purchased by a private corporation, headed by E. P. McBurney. The main gate is one of the oldest standing structures in Atlanta. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.Structures
- Westview Abbey - a mausoleum and chapel, was built in 1943 and houses 11,444 entombments and space to hold cremated remains. 27 stained glass panels adorn the Romanesque chapel and depicts Jesus Christ's life from nativity through crucifixion and resurrection. A mural entitled Faith, Hope and Charity depicts four Christian parables in its artwork.
- The Receiving Tomb - was built in 1888 and once held bodies waiting to be processed and buried. Wagons, and in later years vehicles, carrying the deceased could not get down the muddy cemetery roads during heavy rains. The marble and brick receiving tomb was also used to house an excess of bodies during the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918.
- The Water Tower - was built in 1921 and may be mistaken for a battlefield look-out point but was only used to hold water. The top of the tower is an example of a crenellated adornment, making it look more like a castle than the roof of a water tower.
- The Confederate Memorial - was erected in 1889 by The Confederate Veterans Association of Fulton County to honor its fallen soldiers. The monument features a stone soldier holding a flag and standing on top of small cannonballs. Two Cohorn mortars lie just beyond a circle of Confederate graves and mark a path leading to the historic monument.
Notable interments
- The entire Adair Clan
- Jim Bagby, Sr., the first pitcher to hit a home run in a modern World Series
- Bob Barrett, Major League Baseball player in the 1920s and 1930s.
- Russell L. Beutell, architect of the Buckhead Theatre, among other buildings
- John S. Bigby, U.S. Representative from Georgia
- Marion L. Brittain, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1922 to 1944
- Charles M. Brown, politician and namesake of Charlie Brown Field
- William Butt, eighth mayor of Atlanta
- Asa Candler, businessman, owner of Coca-Cola
- Asa G. Candler, Jr., son of Asa Candler, Sr., former owner of the cemetery and builder of the Westview Cemetery Abbey and Chapel.
- John S. Cohen, U.S. Senator from Georgia
- Laurent DeGive, Belgian diplomat and entrepreneur who built Loew's Grand Theatre
- Willis F. Denny, architect of Rhodes Hall and St. Mark United Methodist Church
- Dolla, rapper who charted with "Who the Fuck Is That?"
- John Owen Donaldson, World War I flying ace, for whom Donaldson Air Force Base was named.
- Hugh M. Dorsey, Governor of Georgia from 1917 to 1921.
- Edward Emmett Dougherty, architect of Druid Hills Baptist Church and the Imperial Hotel
- Walter T. Downing, architect of Healey Building and Westview's 1890 gatehouse
- John J. Eagan, industrialist
- James Douglas Edgar, golfer, winner of the Canadian Open
- Vernon Forrest, professional boxer who was a four-time, two-weight world champion
- Y. Frank Freeman, executive for Paramount Pictures, winner of two Oscars
- Frank Gordy, founder of The Varsity
- Henry W. Grady, journalist and orator, namesake of Grady Memorial Hospital and Henry W. Grady High School
- L.P. Grant, for whom Grant Park is named, was on the original board of Westview
- Samuel Green, a Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the late 1940s
- John R. Gunn, minister, columnist and author
- Lyman Hall, president of Georgia School of Technology from 1896 to 1905
- Gladys Hanson, stage and screen actress
- Joel Chandler Harris, newspaperman and author of "Uncle Remus"
- William Berry Hartsfield, Mayor of Atlanta and namesake of the Atlanta Airport
- Ernest Hartsock, poet associated with Oglethorpe University
- J. J. Haverty, of furniture retailer Haverty's and the Rhodes-Haverty Building
- Alice Hawthorne, victim of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing
- Daniel Whitehead Hicky, poet and columnist
- Donald L. Hollowell, civil rights attorney
- Evan Howell, politician, early telegraph operator, Confederate Army officer
- Vivian Malone Jones, civil rights activist
- James C. "Chris" Kelly, half of the rap duo Kris Kross
- James L. Key, mayor of Atlanta 1919–1923 and 1931–1937
- George Edward King, hardware store founder
- Enrico Leide, cellist, first conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
- Helen Dortch Longstreet, journalist, first woman to run for office in Georgia
- Evelyn G. Lowery, civil rights activist
- Joseph Lowery, 3rd president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- Ralph Emerson McGill, journalist and civil rights leader
- Livingston Mims, mayor of Atlanta from 1901 to 1903
- Jim Mitchell, football tight end for the Atlanta Falcons, coach for Morehouse College and Morris Brown College
- Arthur James Moore, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church
- Cleland Kinloch Nelson, Episcopal bishop
- Frances Newman, novelist
- Bill Paschal, football running back for Georgia Tech and the New York Giants
- William H. Peck, poet and author
- Edward C. Peters, real estate developer, owner of Edward C. Peters House
- G. Lloyd Preacher, architect of Atlanta City Hall, Briarcliff Hotel and Medical Arts Building
- Isaac Newton Ragsdale, mayor of Atlanta from 1927 to 1931
- Amos G. Rhodes, of Rhodes Furniture, the Rhodes-Haverty Building and Rhodes Hall
- Walter H. Rich and Richard H. "Dick" Rich, two presidents of the Rich's department store chain
- Harry Van Buren Richardson, theologian, writer, and the first president of the Interdenominational Theological Center
- Frank Mason Robinson, creator of the name and logo of Coca-Cola
- Nick Rogers, football linebacker who played for Georgia Tech and in the NFL
- William Lindsay Scruggs, author, lawyer and diplomat
- Robert Shaw, conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
- Jerry Randolph Smith, co-pilot on the Southern Airways Flight 932 crash in 1970
- Rankin M. Smith Sr., businessman, philanthropist & owner of Atlanta Falcons
- Frank Lebby Stanton, first poet laureate of Georgia, lyricist of "Just Awearyin' for You"
- Louise Suggs, professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour
- Isaac T. Tichenor, president of Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama 1872-1881
- Dorothy Rogers Tilly, civil rights activist
- Charles Davis Tillman, early influence on southern gospel music
- Henry Holcombe Tucker, chancellor of the University of Georgia and president of Mercer University
- Nedra Tyre, author
- C. T. Vivian, civil rights leader
- Horace Taliaferro Ward, first African American to serve as a United States District Judge in Georgia
- B. Frank Whelchel, a U.S. Representative from Georgia
- Robert Woodruff, businessman, President of Coca-Cola
- Anna Irwin Young, a charter member of the American Mathematical Association.
Former interments