For the first time in 145 years, you can reserve a spot at Oakland Cemetery
Near the southeast corner of Oakland Cemetery, under the shade of majestic native oak trees and surrounded by headstones dating to the 1800s, an unassuming, roughly 150-foot-long plot of land will soon provide a historic opportunity that hasn’t been offered for more than a century.
On Wednesday afternoon, Susanne and Dave Kupiec felt a sense of comfort knowing they would eventually join the famed deceased Atlantans after purchasing one of the first new public final resting places there since 1880.
The married couple, who live in Virginia-Highland, sat on a large bench on a cracked asphalt pathway that will soon be paved, surrounded by bricks and situated underneath a columbarium memorial for those who have been cremated. Their urns will be part of the city forever.
“Ever since we’ve known this place, you could no longer obtain a burial spot, and rarely through private sales,“ Dave Kupiec, 65, a retired Delta Air Lines pilot, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ”So this is an opportunity that we didn’t want to miss.”
Those buried inside the city’s first municipal cemetery and oldest green space include “Gone With the Wind” writer Margaret Mitchell, Atlanta’s first African American mayor, Maynard Jackson, golf star Bobby Jones and thousands of Civil War veterans from both sides. In 2020, country music star Kenny Rogers was buried there after his family purchased another family’s plot in a private sale following his death, according to Richard Harker, the president and CEO of the Historic Oakland Foundation, which oversees the cemetery.
With about 70,000 total burials at Oakland, and up to 25 each year, Harker explained that the cemetery is sold out, but not full. There is a waiting list because many of the spots have been owned by family members for decades. Now, the public is getting its chance to secure an exclusive space.
The columbarium will consist of four granite structures —basically mausoleums — that will contain a total of 270 spaces, each holding between 2-8 urns. Roughly 150 spaces have already sold out after going on presale last week, Harker said, with prices ranging from $6,000 to $40,000 depending on the size of the space and the level off the ground.
Proceeds from the presale will go toward building the columbarium, which Harker noted will cost at least $500,000. Sales will also go toward maintaining and preserving the grounds and headstones. It’s not a perpetual care cemetery, which means it did not receive an endowment fund for ongoing maintenance when it was founded.
A brick wall encircles the 48-acre cemetery, which has views of the downtown Atlanta skyline from the northwest. Of the 150,000 yearly visitors, many will hear the occasional rumble from a MARTA train darting past on the tracks overlooking its northern side. The other sides are surrounded by apartment complexes, higher-end restaurants, stores, homes and even a market on Memorial Drive, where trees from the cemetery hang over the road.
Harker called it an “island of tranquility in the heart of the city.”
The columbarium will be built on an unused piece of land situated next to the recently renovated Women’s Comfort Station, East Hill area and Historic African American Burial Grounds. The names, birth dates and death dates will be displayed on the front. It will be designed to reflect the cemetery’s 19th century architecture.
For 38-year-old Nicki Putnam, thinking about a final resting place wasn’t exactly on her radar, but she quickly got wind of the opportunity as a foundation staff member and knew she and her husband would want to be cremated.
For years, it’s been a place outside of work where they would navigate the pathways during long walks while living in nearby Cabbagetown. She said she felt at peace knowing they would be part of history.
“We’ve lived in the neighborhood, so we kind of figured no matter where we end up going, the final resting place in Atlanta would always feel like home,” she told the AJC on Wednesday inside the cemetery’s visitor center. “It feels like a really unique opportunity, and not something that I ever thought would be a possibility.”
Atlanta attorney Margaret Elliott ventured to the cemetery Wednesday after her daughter told her about the new available spots. The Rowell resident said she never thought of getting cremated before but was intrigued at the thought of being part of history, despite it being a bit out of her price range. The urns would be for herself and her husband — if “he stays on my good side,” she joked.
The columbarium has been in the works for 25 years, but the project finally got off the ground once other necessary projects at the cemetery were completed, Harker said. Earlier this year, the foundation conducted several surveys asking the local community their opinion about it, including what design they would prefer. Harker said they would have abandoned the project had those surveys been negative.
He said the new pavement will be put in during the second quarter next year, and everything else will be completed by late summer or early fall 2026. You can reserve one of the remaining spots here.
If the project is successful, Harker said they would think about constructing more.
“If people want it, we will build it,” he said.
