Decatur Cemetery, Historic cemetery in Decatur, US

Decatur Cemetery covers 54 acres and holds more than 20,000 graves, including a section for cremated remains. A pond stocked with fish attracts swans, ducks, turtles and migrating Canada geese. East of the graves, a pedestrian path crosses a tributary of Peachtree Creek past a small waterfall, and a grove of giant bamboo with trunks over 20 cm in diameter stands at the southeast corner.

Decatur Cemetery is the oldest burial ground in the Atlanta metropolitan area and is believed to have been used before Decatur's 1823 incorporation. In 1832, the local legislature created the "Commissioners for the Decatur Burial Ground." Many Civil War veterans lie in the 8-acre section called "The Old Cemetery."

The cemetery holds the graves of figures such as George Washington Scott, founder of Agnes Scott College, and Andrew Sledd, first president of the modern University of Florida. Leila Ross Wilburn, a pioneering woman architect, and gospel singer Hovie Lister of the Statesmen Quartet are buried here too. Mary Ann Harris Gay, author of Life in Dixie During the War, lies in the grounds.

The grounds are entered on foot; the forested ravine path east of the graves crosses a tributary of Peachtree Creek over two small bridges, with a waterfall just south of the southern bridge. A short trail at the southeast corner passes through a grove of giant bamboo to the end of the Ponce de Leon Court Historic District.

At the southeast corner stands a grove of giant bamboo, some trunks over 20 cm thick, with a short path leading through it to the end of the Ponce de Leon Court Historic District. The forested ravine east of the cemetery has a pedestrian path over a tributary of Peachtree Creek, and a small waterfall lies just south of the southern bridge.