National Register of Historic Places
Oconee Hill Cemetery is significant at the state level of significance under National Register Criteria.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.
Oconee Hill Cemetery
In the areas of art and architecture the numerous forms of decorative burial monuments reflect funerary traditions from the mid-19th century to present day. Architectural styles, such as Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, High Victorian Gothic, and Egyptian Revival appear in many of the mausoleums, obelisks, headstones, and other markers. The sexton's house is an excellent example of a Georgian-plan Folk Victorian-style house. The cemetery is significant in the area of landscape architecture because its plan is characteristic of garden cemeteries, which were popular in Georgia and throughout the nation by the middle of the 19th century. These cemeteries feature meandering roads that follow the cemetery's natural topography, ornamental plantings, and delineated family plots. The cemetery is significant in the area of community planning and development because it represents the city's efforts to provide a public cemetery as an alternative to the crowded Jackson Street Cemetery. The cemetery is also significant in the areas of social history and black ethnic heritage because it includes what was once a segregated section for African-American burials. The cemetery is significant in the area of Jewish ethnic heritage because of the distinctive designs of the burial markers in the Jewish section and its historical association with the Jewish community in Athens. The cemetery is significant in the area of engineering because the iron-and-steel Pratt through-truss bridge is among the few through-truss bridges in the state.
To learn more about the Cemetery's acceptance on the National Register of Historic Places, please visit http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/13000291.htm.
