Oakland Cemetery

Oakland Cemetery is Atlanta, Georgia's oldest and largest cemetery as well as its fourth largest green space (behind Freedom, Piedmont and Grant Parks). Founded as "Atlanta Cemetery" in 1850 on six acres (2.4 hectares) of land southeast of the city, Oakland was renamed in 1872 to reflect the large number of oak and magnolia trees growing in the area. By that time, the city had grown and the cemetery had enlarged correspondingly to the current 88 acres (35.6 hectares). Since then, Atlanta has continued to expand, so that Oakland is now located in the center of the city. Oakland is an excellent example of a Victorian-style cemetery and reflects the "garden cemetery" movement started and exemplified by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts.

Notable burials

• 25 former Atlanta mayors, including Moses Formwalt (Atlanta's first mayor), S.B. Spencer and Maynard Jackson (Atlanta's first African-American mayor)
• 6 former Georgia governors, including John B. Gordon (1832-02-06 – 1904-01-09), Joseph E. Brown (1821-04-15 – 1894-11-30), and Hoke Smith (1855-11-02 – 1931-11-27)
• Martha Atalanta Lumpkin Compton (1827-08-28 – 1917-02-13), daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin and namesake of "Marthasville," Atlanta's name from 1843 until approximately 1845
• Clement A. Evans (1833-02-25 – 1911-07-02), John B. Gordon, Alfred Iverson, Jr., and William Wright (c. 1822 – c. 1899), Confederate Generals
• William Fuller and Anthony Murphy, Western & Atlantic Railroad employees involved in the Great Locomotive Chase
• Bishop Wesley John Gaines (1840-10-04 – 1912-01-12), Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and founder of Morris Brown College.
• Franklin Miller Garrett (1906-09-25 – 2000-03-05), Atlanta historian notable for his extensive survey of Atlanta cemeteries. He was dubbed "Atlanta's Official Historian" and is buried on commons ground on a plot donated by the City of Atlanta.
• Joel Hurt, founder of Inman Park and Druid Hills, two of Atlanta's first planned subdivisions
• Dr. Joseph Jacobs, owner of the pharmacy where John Pemberton first sold Coca-Cola as a soft drink
• Bobby Jones (1902-03-17 – 1971-12-18), first golf player to win The Double, both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship (British Open) in the same year
• Carrie Steele Logan (c. 1829 – 1900-11-03), founder of the first black orphanage in Georgia, now known as the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home. Kept orphans in a boxcar in the rail yard where she worked and brought them home with her at night until the orphanage
• Margaret Mitchell Marsh, author of Gone with the Wind
• Reverend Frank Quarles, key figure in establishing Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, which later became Spelman College
• Morris and Emanuel Rich, founders of Rich's department store.
• Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, was interred for a time at Oakland before being moved to his estate near Crawfordville.