Greenwood Cemetery on Cascade Road in southwest Atlanta has fallen into disrepair under private ownership, and city officials are actively pursuing conversations about taking over the property.
The city has held meetings in recent months with stakeholders, including families of those buried at the 121-year-old cemetery, as well as Chinese, Greek, and Jewish community leaders.
Winding lanes inside the cemetery are worn down and full of potholes. Several large dead trees loom over dirty headstones, signage is broken, and the land is eroding in swaths.
Chartered in 1904, Greenwood is known for the Memorial to the Six Million, a site on the National Registry of Historic Places which holds annual events to commemorate those who perished in the Holocaust.
The cemetery has a large Jewish population, as well as the Chinese Memorial Garden and a gated Greek section. In 1928, the Greek Ladies Auxiliary Society founded St. Barbara’s Chapel, the oldest Orthodox church in continuous use in Georgia, according to local historian Victoria Lamos.
Those buried at Greenwood include S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A; Frank Taffell, a founder of Congregation Beth Jacob; and Hank Ballard, who wrote and originally recorded in 1959 the party song “The Twist.”
Atlanta’s Parks and Recreation Commissioner Justin Cutler has for two months led preliminary talks about a possible transition in ownership. The most recent meeting, held on Tuesday, Oct. 28, was “an informal and private conversation between Commissioner Cutler and members of Atlanta’s Jewish congregations with loved ones buried at Greenwood Cemetery,” a City of Atlanta employee said. “Out of respect for the attendees, we are not sharing any information.”
Cutler was not immediately available for comment.
Greenwood is owned and operated by F. Coll Bowen, III, and formerly by his father, Frank Bowen, Jr. Calls to the cemetery by Rough Draft were unanswered.
Several stakeholders said broken landscape equipment on site is not being repaired or replaced by the Bowen family. Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal confirmed that landscapers were hired by Ahavath Achim (AA) Synagogue to maintain the section used by the congregation.
Protecting spaces that have meaning and value is becoming more and more complicated and difficult, said David Y. Mitchell, executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center. He believes the location and size of Greenwood is influential to the area.
Adjacent to Greenwood Cemetery, the City of Atlanta is revitalizing the John A. White Golf Course. A two-story, 29,000-square-foot multi-purpose activity center is expected to open in 2026 to serve both the senior community and golf enthusiasts.
“Whether it be a cemetery or an identified and acknowledged and recognized historic building on Edgewood Avenue, we are a culture/nation in transition. Cemeteries should represent a place where we remember and visit to remind ourselves of past experiences and those that hoped for us to do better,” Mitchell said. “A cemetery is the zenith example of a space where we should feel our loved ones are at peace; yet, we see that it is the living that continue to be the issue, far more than the dead.”
Karen Lansky Edlin is the president of Eternal Life Hemshech, the organization that maintains the Memorial to the Six Million. Edlin said she hopes the City of Atlanta “steps in and moves forward” because of the memorial’s historic status.
“In 1964, the Holocaust survivors in Atlanta spent time discussing where to put the memorial. They knew synagogues and Jewish centers could come and go, but a cemetery would be forever,” said Edlin. “They wanted people to be able to come and visit. They wanted it in public place. And of course, it seemed most fitting to be in a cemetery. When we go to the memorial, we see evidence on the inside that people have come and they have visited. People are touched, and leave behind flags, coins, stones and stuffed animals.”
Rich Lapin learned about the potential change from his synagogue, Temple Emanuel in Sandy Springs. Lapin’s in-laws are buried at Greenwood Cemetery, where he and his wife have plots.
“I was surprised to learn about this recently, and am concerned about what it might mean for me, my wife, and her extended family who are buried at Greenwood Cemetery,” Lapin said.
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