Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia

Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. Photo by Casey Jones, Brand USA

10 of Georgia’s Famous Final Resting Places

Famous writers, actors, sports figures, musicians and creators are interred in Georgia’s cemeteries. Here are 10 of our state’s most famous final resting places.

1. Ty Cobb

Ty Cobb's hometown, Royston, welcomes visitors to learn more about the famous baseball player

Ty Cobb's hometown, Royston, welcomes visitors to learn more about the famous baseball player.

A professional baseball player that was both loved and hated, Ty Cobb dominated major league baseball in its early years. He died July 17, 1961, at Emory University Hospital after a battle with prostate cancer and is interred in his family’s mausoleum in Royston. Visit the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston to learn more about the famous baseball player.

2. Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell's grave in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery

Margaret Mitchell's grave in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery

The writer best known for her novel "Gone With the Wind" was hit by a drunk driver on Peachtree Street in Atlanta the evening of Aug. 11, 1949. She died five days later at Grady Memorial Hospital without ever having regained consciousness. She was buried at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, where her husband was buried beside her only a few years later. Tour the apartment where she wrote Gone With the Wind at the Margaret Mitchell House in Midtown Atlanta.

3. Joel Chandler Harris

Uncle Remus may be a fictional character, but the Uncle Remus Museum in Eatonton reminds us just how important his stories of Br'er Rabbit were. - GDECD Photography

Uncle Remus may be a fictional character, but the Uncle Remus Museum in Eatonton reminds us just how important his stories of Br'er Rabbit were. - GDECD Photography

The author best known as the author of the Uncle Remus stories died July 3, 1908, from acute nephritis and cirrhosis of the liver. He is interred at Westside Cemetery in Atlanta. Learn more about his life and work at the Uncle Remus Museum in Eatonton.

4. Robert Tyre (Bobby) Jones Jr.

Bobby Jones' grave in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery

Bobby Jones' grave in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery

Perhaps the greatest golfer to ever live, Jones was restricted to a wheelchair in his final years after developing syringomyelia. He died Dec. 18, 1971, three days after converting to Catholicism. He is buried in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery. Learn more about his life and career at the Atlanta History Center's exhibit "Fair Play: The Bobby Jones Story."

5. Otis Redding

Otis Redding memorial in Gray, Georgia

Otis Redding memorial in Gray, Georgia

The man who has "The King of the Soul Singers" inscribed on his tomb was killed Dec. 9, 1967, when the plane he was flying in crashed in Lake Monona, Wis. He was entombed on Dec. 19 at his home in Red Oak, 20 miles north of Macon.

6. Duane Allman

Duane Allman's and Berry Oakley's graves in Macon's Rose Hill Cemetery

Duane Allman's and Berry Oakley's graves in Macon's Rose Hill Cemetery

In 1971, the man that "Rolling Stone" would rank as the No. 2 guitarist of all time and the co-founder of The Allman Brothers Band was killed at the age of 24 in a motorcycle accident. Following his death on Oct. 29, Allman was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon. Learn more about his life and the band at The Allman Brothers Band Museum at The Big House in Macon.

7. John Herndon (Johnny) Mercer

Johnny Mercer plot in Bonaventure Cemetery. Photo from Bonaventure Historical Society, Inc., Facebook.

Johnny Mercer plot in Bonaventure Cemetery. Photo from Bonaventure Historical Society, Inc., Facebook.

Among his other professional singer and songwriter accomplishments, Mercer was a co-founder of Capitol Records. He died on June 25, 1976, in Bel Air, Calif. Mercer is buried in Savannah's historic Bonaventure Cemetery.

8. Uga

Mister Angel, the first English bulldog to serve as mascot to the University of Georgia, is buried in Eastman, Georgia

Mister Angel, the first English bulldog to serve as mascot to the University of Georgia, is buried in Eastman, Georgia.

The first English bulldog to serve as the University of Georgia's mascot, Mr. Angel, is buried in Eastman, Georgia. A monument in his honor stands near his burial site. Since 1992, each of the University of Georgia's mascots has been interred in a mausoleum near the main entrance to Sanford Stadium upon their death.

9. (Mary) Flannery O'Connor

Andalusia Farm in Milledgeville, Georgia

Andalusia Farm in Milledgeville, Georgia

One of the best-known Southern writers in history, O'Connor developed lupus at a young age and died at 39 at Baldwin County Hospital. The woman whose book "Complete Stories" won the 1972 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction is buried in Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville. Learn more about O'Connor's life and work at Andalusia Farm in Milledgeville.

10. Juliette Gordon Low

Juliette Gordon Low's Birthplace in Savannah

Juliette Gordon Low's Birthplace in Savannah

The founder of the Girl Scouts of America developed breast cancer in 1923 and died four years later on Jan. 7, 1927. The 66-year-old, buried in her Girl Scout uniform, was laid to rest in a plot in Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah. Learn more about Low's life and the Girl Scouts at the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah.

Published: May 2013
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