St. Nicholas Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery

[thelakelander]

St. Nicholas Bethel Baptist Church's cemetery is fenced in on all side so no one can care for the graves.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/st-nicholas-bethel-baptist-church-cemetery/

[Jagsdrew]

Last week, I flew into Atlanta for a work conference and took an uber from the airport to downtown ATL. On my ride back to the airport, we hit traffic (no surprise). As I looked out the window heading south, I saw a cemetery, right smack dab in the middle of...wait for it...wait for it...an interchange. Once we passed the interchange, I looked back to see what the road we passed was and it was I-75 and Cleveland Ave.

Made a mental note of that and once I got back to Jax, I found a really interesting story about it that I thought I would share.  https://theatlantavoice.com/honoring-sacred-black-spaces-gilbert-memorial-cemetery-should-not-be-forgotten/

This article here as more visuals to show you how this cemetery wrapped around the interchange. https://americanlives.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesCemeteries/Georgia_GilbertCemetery01.html

[acme54321]

There are also two in Atlanta that have been swallowed up by the airport.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/flat-rock-and-hart-cemeteries

The one thing that strikes me about the Bethel cemetery here is how it ended up landlocked like that.  It seems it would have been the church that sold off the property?

[thelakelander]

Last week, I flew into Atlanta for a work conference and took an uber from the airport to downtown ATL. On my ride back to the airport, we hit traffic (no surprise). As I looked out the window heading south, I saw a cemetery, right smack dab in the middle of...wait for it...wait for it...an interchange. Once we passed the interchange, I looked back to see what the road we passed was and it was I-75 and Cleveland Ave.

Made a mental note of that and once I got back to Jax, I found a really interesting story about it that I thought I would share.  https://theatlantavoice.com/honoring-sacred-black-spaces-gilbert-memorial-cemetery-should-not-be-forgotten/

This article here as more visuals to show you how this cemetery wrapped around the interchange. https://americanlives.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesCemeteries/Georgia_GilbertCemetery01.html

Yeah, what happened to Gilbert Cemetery is horrible. I can't recall if human remains had been relocated or not. I do know that the area in the middle of the interchange wasn't necessarily the exact location of the headstones there today.

EDIT: The last link answers what I could not remember.

[Jagsdrew]

There are also two in Atlanta that have been swallowed up by the airport.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/flat-rock-and-hart-cemeteries

Dang that is crazy, I had no idea it was right of from a runway at the busiest airport in the world.

[Jax_Developer]

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/battle-over-miami-development-site-where-ancient-artifacts-were-discovered/3008255/#:~:text=The%20findings%20at%20the%20site,that%20once%20occupied%20the%20area.

In a similar vein, this was surprising to me but also not. They were considering this for a UNESCO site at one point in time.. now going to be condos.

[thelakelander]

We have our fair share of cemetery atrocities here. Examples include the construction of Emmett Reed Park (built on top of Mount Herman Cemetery) and an African American cemetery that I-295 on the Westside was built through. Here are a few images from Emmett Reed Park.