Q: I was driving down Windy Hill Road on the way to a recent Braves game and noticed a small cemetery next to the road. Can you tell me about it?
A: You are referring to the Hargrove Cemetery at 2500 Windy Hill Road, between U.S. 41 and I-75, next to Windy Hill Hospital. It is about two blocks from Circle 75 Parkway in Marietta.
The small, family cemetery has about 20 grave sites which are hidden behind a black metal picket fence, surrounded by tall trees filled with vines and piles of long-dead shrubs that have been cut.
One end of the fence is mangled, the apparent victim of an auto accident. The area is not well kept with tall weeds growing between the weather and age faded headstones. Discarded cups and other trash is easy to see.
The entrance to the cemetery is off Windy Hill Road, next to the hospital parking lot. A wood sign hangs over the barbed wire protected fence that says Hargrove Cemetery with the words family and friends below.
You probably would not notice the cemetery unless you were stuck in traffic as you try to get onto I-75. The busy stretch of road is lined office buildings and fast-food restaurants.
An historic marker at the location says “The Hargrove House.”
According to the Georgia Historical Society, Asbury Hargrove (1809-1879) lived in the the antebellum home.
Hargrove’s grave is next to the sidewalk, a few steps from Windy Hill Road, with his wife’s grave beside him. Louisa A. Mayes Hargrove (1814-1889), age 74, according to findagrave.com. The couple had six children - three sons and three daughters, also at the cemetary.
For nine July days in 1864, the home was the headquarters of Brig. Gen. Edward M. McCook.
The marker at the site indicates McCook’s troops were posted at the house to patrol the Chattahoochee between Rottenwood Creek and Roswell.
McCook’s horsemen served as a screen, according to the marker, behind which the 23d and 4th Corps moved to crossings at the mouth of Soap Creek and Power’s Ferry.
The Georgia Historical Commission erected the marker in 1954. The house is no longer there.
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