Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery

Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery is a Georgia historical marker in Clarke County, dedicated 2008.

On 4th Street, north of Evelyn C. Neely Drive in Athens.

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The Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery was founded in 1882 by the Gospel Pilgrim Society, a fraternal organization, to furnish respectable funerals and burials places for Athens-area African Americans. Popular in the nineteenth century, such societies offset funeral costs and ensured a funeral procession and proper burial for members. The cemetery illustrates a Reconstruction-era departure in the black community from burial sites associated with specific churches. Gospel Pilgrim also contains fine examples of African-American funerary art. Approximately 3500 persons are buried here, including state legislator Madison Davis and nationally recognized folk artist Harriet Powers.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1856 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1866 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1869 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1883 · E. United States 8. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1895 · Gen. map VIII. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

E. United States 8, 1883, covering the location of Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — E. United States 8, 1883, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

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