My name is Traci Rylands and Atlanta, Ga. has been my home for most of my life.
Writer, editor. Friend, wife, Mom. Coupon clipper, Investigation Discovery (ID) addict, amateur travel agent. Those are a few words that describe me. But the most important would be follower of Christ.
As a student at the University of Georgia, I took obituaries over the phone at the Athens Daily News. My first job after college was with a company that sold “pre-need” funeral plan insurance policies. So I have met many funeral directors over the years and am comfortable with the subjects of death, funerals and cemeteries.
Now I’m a photo volunteer for Findagrave.com, a database of cemeteries around the world. I enjoy learning about the stories of those individuals whose graves I find while on my rambles. The term “cemetery hopping” comes from when I move from grave to grave trying to locate a specific grave.
I am not connected in any way with Findagrave.com management and receive no compensation for writing about them. I am not employed or connected to the funeral service industry. I just want to share my passion for unearthing the past and what happens along the way. As of April 2024, I have visited cemeteries in 28 states, and a handful in the U.K. and Canada.
I’ve spoken to a number of historical societies and DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) chapters, so if you’d like me to come present to your group, feel free to contact me.
You can reach me at traci.rylands@gmail.com.
Adventures in Cemetery Hopping 
Congrats on your new blog! I hope it does well……and you get tons of followers.
Enjoy the journery……..and the “hopping!”
Todd
well……..apparently I coined a new word by mistake – “journery” maybe a mash-up with “scenery” and “journey?” Anyhoo…….enjoy the journey and the cemetery scenery as well.
tg
Can’t wait to check back next Friday to see where you’ll hop next.
It was great to hear from you and I remember I had just had knee surgery so was
not able to get out and help you find the graves. We had a great time that day. I would make one suggestion, go back to Kennard cemetery, Dixie Lambert has been photographing the graves and also maybe adding obituaries. She has done a super job on the website. I will check on the twins.
Pat Hunsche
I hope you found the Rogers Bell Cemetery (my family cemetery) The other cemetery
is the black cemetery. The Rogers were Cherokee leaders and indian represenatives
They married into the Bell family in the early 1800’s
Woody Bell Duluth Ga.
Yes, I did. If you read my post “A Tale of Two Cemeteries – Part Two”, I talk about finding it and about the Rogers family history. It is a beautiful place.
Hello SwanGirl,
First I would like to thank you for all your hard work in Photographing the gravemarkers at Sylvester cemetary. One photo of the grave marker for Skelton–Coy Winn and Ruby Daniel does not show the year for Coy Skelton death because there is a pot in front of the marker. The date entered for his death list the year as 1981 which cannot be correct as he outlived my Grandmother Ruby Skelton by several years and she died in 1984. I am looking for documentation to verify and if I run across something I will update the information if I can. Thank you again for your hard work. James Parker
Hi! I just sent you an e-mail. I forgot to ask if you would like me to transfer Coy and Ruby to you since they are your grandparents. I would be happy to do so.
Dear Traci:
I approciate your research work and photography. Would you be interested in more work on Westview? It is under-studied. Asa Candler, WB Harstfield, Ralph McGill, and many other Atlantans are buried there.
John, I would love to do that! There are a number of famous and not so famous but interesting people buried out there. Charles Davis Tillman was the first person to formally publish the African-Americn spiritual “Old Time Religion” and wrote a number of gospel songs. I stumbled across his grave by accident out there. Would you please e-mail me at traci.rylands@gmail.com so we can talk more about it?
I too have family in the Old Greencastle Cemetery in Dayton, I am planning on visiting this summer. The Montgomery county history is being forgotten. I enjoyed the blog
Randy, I haven’t been back since that visit so you will have to let me know what state it is in when you visit. I am hopeful that it’s in better shape but skeptical at the same time. I hope you are more successful than I was in finding your family buried there. Thanks for your comment!
Enjoy your blog very much!!! Hope you can keep up with your cemetery hopping including in Ohio!
Thank you! I live in Atlanta but I do get up to Ohio when I visit family from time to time. So many cemeteries, so little time!
Yes, definitely, so many cemeteries, but I’m sure you enjoy them all. Have you seen many of the white bronze (zinc) markers in Ohio? Many cemeteries have some fine looking ones.
Love !!
I have always been intrigued by graveyards and cemeteries. I’ve recently become a “graver” and have sought out the graves of some famous and not so famous (some infamous) folks during my travels. In the past few mos. I’ve been to the grave of one of the conspirators of the Lincoln assassination,(where only his skull is interred), to a few rock stars graves, The German Orphan Asylum Assoc. Cemetery in New Orleans, The Great Santini’s grave (real life person who inspired the character), baseball players, and even Rondo Hatton…..”The Creeper” whom has an award named for him in the sci-fi monster movie genre.
Traci, I greatly enjoyed the photos and information regarding the Old Green Castle Cemetery, in Dayton, Ohio. I have lots of Olinger family that migrated there between 1804 and 1811. Both OLINGER families with two JOHN OLINGER’s wife both having a wife named EVE. Very confusing, but I have worked for over 25 years on that particular family puzzle. You posted a picture of an OLINGER grave marker that you came upon in this cemetery. I’m curious if you remember other OLINGER markers in this cemetery? Also, have you ever used the shaving foam method to enhance the readability of such old stones that are hard to read otherwise? Again, thanks for your work in preserving such vital information from so many cemeteries, and I look forward to hearing from you. Jerry
Hi, Jerry!
Thanks for your comment. My great-great grandfather Samuel Grice was the son of John Grice and Mary Olinger. From what I’ve read, the Olinger family helped start the church when it was first established. Many of the Grices lived in Brookville. According to Find a Grave, there are 15 Olingers buried at Old Greencastle. Nine have been photographed. I know I saw more than three markers with that name on them when I was there in 2012. But as you read in my post, it was very hard to walk around and some of the markers are difficult to read.
I do not use shaving cream, chalk, flour or talcum powder on gravestones. They contain chemicals that can damage the surface of the stone and wear it down even more over time. I try not to do anything to stones at all beyond using a soft brush to get leaves or dirt off. The only thing I would try is briefly putting tin foil over the surface to see if that brings out the letters more clearly. You can also use a mirror to reflect light onto a stone to see the engravings better. This site provides a good primer on what to use and what not to use when working with gravestones: http://saveagrave.net/hard-to-read-stones.
I am making plans to revisit Old Greencastle in April when I am up in Dayton. The first thing I want to do is visit Old Greencastle since it’s been cleaned up and maybe I can find my relatives now. I’d be happy to hunt for the Olinger graves for you while I am there.
Traci
Thanks Traci,
I appreciate the prompt reply. I have went through the records of Old Green Castle that are posted on Find A Grave. Only one older John Olinger and Eve Olinger are listed on the 1850 Montg. Co., OH census. The other John and Eve Olinger must have died prior to 1850. I’m still trying to document that. Since the Olingers thst are located in Old Green Castle Cemetery are descendants of the immigrant CARL/Charles Olinger of 1732, I feel that the John Olinger who died in 1870 and is buried in the Vanniman-Bowman-Wooden cemetery across from the Bear Creek Cemetery in Madison Twp., is the other John Olinger who descends from the immigrant JOHANNES OHLINGER/OLINGER of 1849. Any thoughts or new information you might offer is greatly appreciated. Also, thanks for the web link regarding how to photograph these old grave markers with minimal damage to the stone.
Jerry
Jerry, I have to confess that I haven’t done a great deal of research yet on the Olinger line in my family tree. From what little, I’ve been able to deduce, my Olingers came over from Germany before 1744, settling in Pennsylvania then Virginia. That was Johann Phillip Olinger. I’m not exactly sure when Mary Olinger married John Grice. The Grices came to Ohio after living first in Virginia.
I wish I had more insight I could give you but as I haven’t done nearly the amount of work you have done (and kudos to you for that), I can’t at this time. My family tree is on Ancestry.com for public view if you want to see it.
Traci,
If you like, I will send you an invitation to my main family tree on Ancestry.Com and you may be able to see what I have on the family. As I remember, the Olinger family that was married into the Grice family in Montgomery County, OH were not descended from Johan Philip Ohlinger/Olinger but from Carl/Charles Olinger, the immigrant of 1732. If my records are correct, I show John Grice (1816-1888) was married to Mary Olinger (1817-1882), a daughter of Johannes “John” Olinger and Eve Hay. If I am not correct, I welcome your critiquing and correction of my information. If you have conducted any research in MO tg. Co., OH on the Olingers of the early 1800’s, you k ow very well how difficult and Co fusing it can be separating these two families. I will send you an invitation to my main Ancestry.com tree.
Jerry
Jerry,
I am currently researching John Grice and Mary Olinger. I have been trying to trace my dad’s paternal family tree. He was adopted so the certainty of these relationships is fairly questionable; however, DNA tests gave some key clues and that these are likely descendants. I am trying to find John Olinger and Eve Hay’s records and family.
Are you local to the Brookville, Ohio area?
a great blog Traci
Thanks so much! Very interesting stuff.
HEY,I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU THE HOLLYWOOD RD. PICTURES ARE GREAT,I GREW UP NEXT TO IT.THE PICTURE LOOKING DOWN HIGHTOWER RD.TOWARD HOLLYWOOD RD.ON THE LEFT SIDE IN THE WOODS ARE THE OLDEST GRAVES YOU WILL FIND THEY GO ALL THE WAY TO THE LITTLE CREEK.ITS VERY OVER GROWN, WE USED TO WALK THRU THERE WHEN I WAS LITTLE,OVER 50 YRS AGO.I KNOW EVERY INCH OF ALL THE GRAVE YARDS THERE.EVEN ALL THE WAY TO THE DOG AN CAT CEMETERY.IT WAS A WONDERFUL PLACE TO GROW UP,KINDA SCAREY BUT WONDERFUL.
Hi, Ginger! Thanks for sharing your memories. When you were a kid, was it already starting to get like that? It just makes me sad to think of what it once was and is now. I have actually written about that pet cemetery, also known as Pet Heaven Memorial Park. You can find it here: https://adventuresincemeteryhopping.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/a-walk-through-atlantas-pet-heaven-memorial-park/
Fellow Georgian and FIndAGrave person. Loved your blogs!
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Here’s a curiosity for you; Cuthbert GA cemetery (unsure of the name ), corner of Gordon St and Broad St (US 82/GA 50). If traveling east on Broad, turn north on Gordon and immediately look to your right, or eastward. Look along the top of the cemetery fence or wall.
This has always been a strange thing to see. What would posses a person to to this? Strong sense of humor, I’d suppose.
My parents always pointed out this curiosity whenever we passed thru Cuthbert. Now I’m prevliged to creep-out my kids.
Let me know what you learn. BTW, enjoyed your article in the Oct Georgia magazine.
Hi, Mark! I haven’t been through Cuthbert before but now you’ve got my curiosity piqued! Do you have a picture of it? I looked online and couldn’t find anything. Are you talking about Rosedale Cemetery or is it a different one?
I also didn’t know that football great Rosey Grier was from Cuthbert.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the article. So many cemeteries, so little time!
Traci Rylands
Dear Traci, I just stumbled across this site while googling Hollywood cemetery. I am 50 and visited the mountain side all of my youth and up until the early 2000’s , helping my parents clean family graves. It was just not safe in recent years, but hope the area will turn around eventually. I also read that you found our pet heaven! My family has 6 dogs buried in the old section. Again my husband hasn’t wanted me to go for years now due to the area. It used to be a peaceful little place, but my dad always carried his gun when we went. We did meet vagrants from time to time. My grandmother told me how grand Hollywood was, with a fountain and gold fish. I’ve always wished I could find a reason for it to be cleaned and restored😊Would love to chat with you more! Email me after the holidays .
Merry Christmas to you!
Hi, Cindy! Loved hearing from you. Yes, the area where Hollywood Cemetery and Pet Heaven are has changed a lot in recent years. I try not to go alone. It’s been a while since I’ve been over there. I will probably revisit Hollywood before spring (and the bugs/snakes return) to poke around some more. It really is a shame that it’s become what it has. Did you have markers for your pets at Pet Heaven? It’s highly likely I photographed them while I was there if you did. I took a ton of pictures.
I’ll be in touch after the holidays. Merry Christmas to you, too!
In the old section : Flip, Tara, Tinker
Little bit newer small section in front of old – Tav and Rusty
Popcorn was in the old section near a tree but no marker
In Hollywood it’s the lots that face the street, now with gravel, but we cut the kudzu all of my younger years! Stradley is the family name. There should be a vase at my great grandparents . Minnie Lee Stradley, also a great aunt and her child
Just happen to check back at your site but email is usually faster for me🎄
Hi Traci,
I want to spend time at Westview. Do you know if I need to obtain permission?
Best,
Hi, John! Westview is open to guests every day, regardless of whether or not you are there to visit someone’s grave or not. The Abbey Mausoleum is also open to guests as well. No permission is necessary. It’s well worth a visit. If you need to locate a grave, they can help you in the office. They will not, however, look up the location of more than a few graves a day unless you pay them to do so. The last time I looked on Find a Grave, the place had over 200 photo requests. I have spent many hours wandering the grounds, which are well taken care of. There’s a map on the Find a Grave site for Westview and they can also give you one in the office as well. Enjoy your visit!
This is excellent. I’m glad I just found you. I presume that you’ve already done a page on the campus cemetery at the University of Georgia, where I used to teach. There is a similar, bigger campus cemetery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Thanks for your good work.
Hi, James!
I’m a little shamefaced to admit I haven’t written a post on Oconee Cemetery in Athens, since UGA is my alma mater. But I’m hoping to do so this year once I work through my other trips.
Thank you for the tip about UNC, I will look into that.
Thanks,
Traci
Love your site. I teach microbiology and have taken students to Graceland cemetery in Chicago to study lichen growing on monuments, among other things at the cemetery.
Hi, Kim!
I’m glad you like the site. That is truly amazing that your students are studying the lichen on the monuments. I’d love to know more about what they’ve discovered. Do you have anything I could read about it? This is the kind of thing a layperson like me knows so little about. I’m sure my readers would enjoy learning more as well.
Traci
I am VERY excited about finding your blog and reading your profile inspires me to do a better profile on the site I am currently working on. I have just taken up cemetery exploration and I am exhilarated by the adventure. Warmly Heather
Hi, Heather! Glad you enjoyed the blog. It could use some updating, especially the “cemeteries I have visited” page. But the fun part is actually writing about them!
Hi Traci. Really enjoy your site….have bookmarked it. Bred & born Atlanta native here….grew up on the southside of town, but now retired and in Virginia for past 30 years. (the Hollywood Cemetery here in Richmond is a tad different than the sad one with the same name on Atlanta’s west side ……what with 2 presidents…3 counting Jeff Davis….on its grounds over looking the James River)
Have you ever heard of the Rev Bill Allison Memorial Cemetery at 5133 Fulton Industrial Boulevard in SW Atlanta? Truly a ‘pauper’s’ graveyard. There is a youtube video site about it. I visited it several yrs ago……can look through the fence….probably over 1000 graves, each marked only by a concrete cross….no inscriptions. So sad….I imagine most were buried with no family present….perhaps a number of them were unidentified….perhaps prisoners who died at area jails & prisons. Vagrants found deceased with no one to claim them. Rev Allison may have been a prison minister, if my feeble memory serves correct. I have kin buried at Westview, Sylvester, and several cemeteries in Southern Fulton Co. Carry on, Traci. Cheers.
Hi Greg! So glad you enjoy the site. Hope you are well. I do know about the Rev. Allison and the cemetery over there, have seen some pictures and I think I also saw that video. The story behind it is indeed heartbreaking, one that I hope to eventually share. I know basically where it is but not if it is still being well cared for. It looks to be in a very busy area with lots of trucks. That area is definitely interesting, so different from the rest of Atlanta. There’s a pet cemetery over that way on Proctor Creek that I’ve visited a few times. I hope to get over there to see it for myself. I read an article not long ago that an African-American cemetery owner provides grave space for the poor in his cemetery, I think it’s somewhere in Forest Park. I’d like to find that one, too.
Thanks for stopping by!
Traci
I’d love to know more about Rev Allison and the cemetery on Fulton Industrial as well, Traci. This area was , and may still be, the largest concentration of distribution centers, warehouses, and manufacturing plants in the SE USA. The area is bustling in the day with truck and vehicle traffic….very safe. I parked right next to the cemetery a few off Fulton Industrial …in the parking lot of an adjacent business. Could only look thru chain link fence …rows & rows of crosses. Just a few blocks away (intersection of Great SW Parkway & Drake Dr) is a forgotten family cemetery atop a hill surrounded by warehouse buildings. From the top I saw 10-15 grave sites in the underbrush…..looking to the NW across the ‘Hooch” one could see Six Flags.
Have you checked out the Hart Family and Flat Rock cemeteries that are literally between runways on the far west side of the Atlanta airport ? Easily accessible off busy Riverdale Road right off I-85. Flat Rock is bigger….the church that was once there is long gone. Very safe places to visit….I’ve been to them both. Easily viewed from above via Google Earth. Have a look sometime,
Saw the posting about college cemeteries. I graduated from North Georgia College at Dahlonega…..there is a cemetery that boarders the western side of the campus. I recall that couples would sometimes stroll over there in the evenings for solitude,,,,and perhaps….. romance,
Cheers
Wow Traci,
I am very impressed with your website/Blog.
I am really enjoying your pictures and your stories.
Thank you for making this available for all to see.
God bless you,
John
Hi, John! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the blog. I hope to keep doing this for as long as I can. I’ve got a lot of cemeteries still to visit so stay tuned for more!
Hi Traci, I just happened upon your blog. Just love it. I was looking at a historical home for sale called the William Cole House in Thomaston, ME and was looking into some info on him and found your website. Lots of interesting info. Your recent post on Yellowstone was fabulous. Love & Light, Eileen
Hi, Eileen! I thought the Cole house was part of the Knox Museum as their administrative office. Are they selling it? Would be quite a coup to have a house with such historic provenance! I remember researching Captain Cole and his many children. Hard to imagine having all those children and losing most of them in infancy. I’m glad you enjoyed the Yellowstone posts, that was one of the most interesting cemeteries I’ve ever visited.
Cemeteries are Libraries and the Headstones the Books of Stories. ❤️🌹📚🙏🏻✍️
I just happened upon your blog today when I saw the article on the Jerry Davis from Tucker Ga. Although I did not know Jerry, I do remember when he died. I lived in the next town Stone Mountain. As many of my classmates were in Vietnam I tried to keep up with them. All the small towns around mourned when one of their own was killed.
Hi, Pauline! I cannot imagine having been a young person at that time, watching friends get drafted and sent overseas. Some came back but like Jerry, many did not. Thank you for reading Jerry’s story.
Dear Traci,
we are “Grateful Cat” from Berlin and we just finished our new video “Postcard from the Graveyard” – with Graves and a Ghost in it.
So we thought we send it out to people who are interested in this subject or work at cemetaries.
If you like it, maybe you share it with some friends or even post it.
Greetings from Berlin,
Gwendolin and Franky
I can’t believe that i have just know found out about this blog. This is incredible!
I hope you enjoy reading the blog! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Good Morning:
My husband is a direct descendent of Max Michael (b. 1884 in Athens) whom you write about in your article: Bulldogs and Burials. We have a key to the mausoleum and were in there over twenty years. We also have many photos of Max and his wife, Cecelia (my husband’s grandparents) should you be interested in expanding your article.
Simon Michael II (son of Max and Cecelia) was killed on the Rapido River in Anzio during WW II. There is supposed to be a plaque on a downtown building, which was originally a clinic, in his memory. A portrait of Max used to hang on the wall of The National Bank of Athens (where he was President), literally across from the Arch. Not sure if the bank was acquired by SunTrust or someone else.
Our son, Frederic Gordon Barnet IV was the fifth generation to attend The University of Georgia.