THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
The usual quiet and peaceful
Oakland
Cemetery which lies a few blocks east of Georgia's Capitol was hit
violently by
the Friday evening, March 14, 2008 tornado that cut a swath of
destruction
through the city of Atlanta.
Damages to the cemetery alone
are estimated
at $4 million, but evaluation of the destruction has not yet been
completed.
This site, on the National Register of Historic Places, will be given
keen
attention in the restoration process.
Giant trees which were left
intact when the
cemetery was founded in 1850 were uprooted by the violent storm.
Magnolia trees
were scalped and tall memorial obelisks were grounded. The debris and
chaos to
the once peaceful walking paths have left behind grim reminders of the
fast-moving tornado that swept through the cemetery in 30 seconds,
swift and
destructive.
The time, and fear, were all
experienced by
Mr. Sam Reed who has been sexton of the cemetery for a decade. He had
gone back
to the bell tower in the middle of the cemetery to get an item he had
left. The
storm struck while he was there, with no time for him to take cover.
Fortunately, he was unharmed, and amazingly, the bell tower remained
intact. He
was able to measure the tornado's intensity as only a brief thirty
seconds, but
seemingly an eternity as he cowered in its wake.
On the cemetery's western edge,
the
monuments to Georgia's Governor Joseph Emerson Brown and his wife
Elizabeth
Grisham Brown lie in pieces, the tall statue of the Angel Gabriel
broken and
sundered, the other two angels damaged, and Mrs. Brown's gravestone
with her
picture sculpted in stone is now cutting a deep dent in Oakland's soil.
This four-time governor of
Georgia, from
1857-1865, during the hard period leading up to and during the Civil
War, had
brought pride with his life and service to the small Union County
Community at
Woody Gap where he spent his youthful years. Now the historic monuments
to him
and his wife lie sundered, toppled under the power of tornadic winds.
We should hope that restoration
of the
cemetery in future will somehow include rebuilding of these two
significant
monuments and the story they tell of a family that provided leadership
at a
pivotal time in
In "Frankie's
Confederate Monuments and Memorials of the South"
the Brown monuments are described in detail. The tall obelisk at
Governor
Brown's grave was topped by the Angel Gabriel looking toward heaven,
with
trumpet in hand. The tower itself had carvings of flowers and lower
down, on
the pedestal, two other angels lean on their trumpets. His name, birth
date and
death date are given: Born in
Then follows a detailed record
of his
political service inscribed under the angel on the right: State
Senator, 1819-
1850; Judge of Superior Court, 1855-1856; Governor of Georgia for four
successive terms, 1857-1865; Chief Justice of Georgia, 1868-1870; US
Senator,
1880-1891; President of Western and Atlantic Railroad, 1870-1990. "His
history is written in the Annals of Georgia."
Under the angel on the left are
included
the names and dates of the Browns' nine children. One of them, Joseph
Mackey
Brown, served two terms as governor, from 1909- 1913.
Officials state: "The city is
committed to repairing the park." Among the fallen debris and the
uprooted
trees, workers will have to proceed with care so as not to uproot
coffins with
the roots of ancient oaks and magnolias wrapped around them. These
trees have,
since the beginning of the cemetery, spread lofty limbs and provided
leafy
shade for this famous city of the dead.
c2008 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published Mar. 27, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Updated August 12,
2009
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