By Tara
On one of my parents' visits to see me a couple of years ago, my husband suggested that I take my mom, a huge fan of anything old and fancy, to the Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta. He mentioned the old mausoleums. He mentioned the Atlanta mayors that were buried there. He mentioned Bobby Jones.
Then he mentioned Margaret Mitchell, and I was sold.
The cemetery itself is gorgeously maintained, and the general architecture of the place is amazing. There are enormous magnolias all around, and little gardens tucked in here and there. There's a historical marker denoting the hill where General Hood watched the battle of Atlanta unfold, and a field dedicated to the burial of Civil War soldiers who died during that battle.
It's peaceful. It's beautiful. It's a little piece of history.
I fell in love with the place on that trip, and since then, we've made it a point to go back every year on the first Sunday of October, when the cemetery hosts its Sunday in the Park fundraiser. There's food, a Victorian era costume contest, music, and free tours. They also open up many of the mausoleums to visitors, which is pretty impressive.
While I think it's a beautiful place to visit at any point in the year, there are also Halloween themed twilight tours in the month of October, which I'd love to participate in at some point, and a Run Like Hell 5K at the end of the month.
Obviously, you have to love a cemetery with a sense of humor, right?



{photo credit: me}