Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

Historic Hillcrest Cemetery

By Judy Fowler Kilgore
Genealogy Columnist

Last week I received an e-mail from Steven Bramlett, historian for Hillcrest Cemetery in East Point, our neighbor to the north. The e-mail wasn’t to me as a columnist, but was sent as a plea on one of the Roots-L e-mail lists, for help with maintaining this all-but-abandoned cemetery. Steven had come across some Fowlers buried there and had sent a plea to the Fowler-L list, attempting to find out who they were (they weren’t mine, although my grandparents and my aunt are buried there).

Steven also announced a tour of the cemetery scheduled for this Saturday (Nov. 20), sponsored by the Hillcrest Cemetery Memorial Association, and is literally begging for help with this historic East Point landmark. Kevin L. Hudson is chairman of the board of the organization.

After visiting the organization’s Web site, I thought this would make a good topic since many, many people in our readership area of Fayette, Coweta and South Fulton counties moved here from East Point, and cemetery preservation is a subject near and dear to any genealogist’s heart.

The tour is Saturday, Nov. 20, from 1-4 p.m. and light refreshments will be served following the tour. Steven will tell stories about the cemetery, help those who are trying to find their ancestors’ graves, and give an update on the association’s progress since it formed in 2001. The alternate date for the tour (in case of rain on Saturday) is Sunday, Nov. 21.

Special guest will be East Point Mayor, Patsy Jo Hilliard.

Although the cemetery is privately owned, it is not maintained and has been all but abandoned. Members of the association have taken it upon themselves to arrange for mowing and clean-up, all done by volunteers. This is no small task since the cemetery encompasses more than 16 acres and has about 7,500 graves.

First begun in the 1890s, the cemetery was once a showplace of serene beauty, and one seeing it from an aerial view could spot it in an instant — the name “Hillcrest Cemetery” was spelled out in carefully sculpted hedges near the entrance on the corner of Stanton Road and Connally Drive.

No more. The cemetery viewed today from that vantage point is a tangle of gravestones, weeds and underbrush ... almost a desecration to the memories of our ancestors. Volunteers can only do so much with a cemetery of that size. It needs professional maintenance and that is what the organization is trying toachieve with donations and volunteer help. The cemetery owner, from what I have been able to gather, is of little help.

I remember Hillcrest as a child. When I was a tot (under five years of age), we lived on Semmes Street just a couple of blocks from Hillcrest. My aunt (the one who is now buried there) used to drive over to our house, take me by the hand, and we would walk to the cemetery to place flowers on her father’s grave. The visit wasn’t complete without a stop at the wishing well, located near the entrance, to drop pennies in and make a wish. Even through my young eyes, it was a beautiful place.

When my grandmother died in 1948, she also was buried there. And, just five years ago, my aunt passed away and her remains were added to the Fowler gravesite. To my knowledge, those are the only relatives I have at Hillcrest, but much of the history of East Point is buried there.

A visit will show the surnames of many I attended school with at Church Street, Central Park and Russell, as well as many of the names of early residents as recorded in “The Early History of East Point, Georgia,” published by the East Point Historical Society in 1985. Most of the contents of this book are from the writings of Sam N. Thompson, penned in 1933. There is a map in the back of the book showing the city limits of East Point from 1887. I borrowed my mother’s copy of the book earlier this week and have been enjoying memories and the history of my hometown for the past several days.

About a year ago, much to my surprise, I learned that my husband’s grandparents also are buried at Hillcrest, although I have not been able to find their graves. They, also, were “East Pointers” and lived on Cleveland Avenue near Sylvan Road.

I hope many of you who are reading this will get involved in the restoration and maintenance of this historic cemetery. Volunteers are always needed and the association would welcome your membership, donations, and/or volunteer service. Steven also is interested in stories and genealogies of the people buried at Hillcrest, to add to his history of the cemetery.

You may reach Steven by e-mail at hillcrest_past@bellsouth.net, or phone him at 404-762-0940. Or you may contact the association by writing to Hillcrest Cemetery Memorial Association, P.O. Box 91377, East Point, GA 30364. An alternate e-mail on the Web site is hillcrest@graves.org. Kevin Hudson's phone number is 404-305-8173, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

Also, if you have stories about your relatives buried at Hillcrest, I’d love to publish them here. Let’s find out where the descendants of those at Hillcrest settled after (and if) they left East Point. My parents settled in Tyrone in the early 1970s and all the kids followed within the next few years. Both my dad and my husband are buried at Sharon Memorial Gardens.

I welcome all letters and e-mails about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; E-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Any letters and/or e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.

Until next week, happy hunting!