Atlanta's Hidden Historic Haven Is A Cemetery With Stunning Art, Tranquil Views, And Rich Legacy

For those who love outdoor sculpture gardens, cemeteries often offer the best galleries around, be it Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia; Sunset Hills Cemetery in Flint, Michigan; or Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont. In fact, the artwork, history, and nature often turns many into full-blown taphophiles. Westview Cemetery, the largest cemetery in the American Southeast, is yet another of these resting places that lives on in semi-regular guided tours and numerous appearances in films and television shows, including one Fast and the Furious film, as well as shows like Ozark — and with good reason. Across 577 acres, just five miles west of downtown Atlanta, are an abundance of impressive art and architecture in the form of tombstones, mausoleums, monuments, and other structures, not to mention Civil War battle remains.

Westview Cemetery owes much of its beauty to the Coca-Cola Company and Asa Candler Jr., son of the Coca-Cola Company's co-founder, Asa G. Candler Sr. — one of the most famous permanent residents of the cemetery. Candler's management of the cemetery spawned its most striking building, Westview Abbey. Built in the 1940s in the highly ornamented Spanish Plateresque style, which originated in the 15th and the 16th centuries, it contains 11,444 crypts, 70 stained-glass windows, and 21 paintings by Hungarian-born artist Bartholomew Mako. Another gem is the 1890 Romanesque Revival gatehouse, now one of Atlanta's oldest standing buildings. For decades, a 2,500-pound bell tolled for the dead from the belfry.

The first bodies to fall on the soil of Westview Cemetery came 20 years before it was founded. On July 28, 1864, the Battle of Ezra Church took place here which was a crushing defeat for the Confederacy who suffered 3,000 casualties to the Union's 650. Trenches related to the battle are still visible, as are the graves of nearly 400 Confederate soldiers. In addition to Asa G. Candler Sr., other notable graves include Joel Chandler Harris, author of "Uncle Remus Stories;" Vivian M. Jones, the first African-American graduate of the University of Alabama; Civil Rights advocate, C. Clayton Powell; and William B. Hartsfield, the namesake of the most crowded airport in America during the holidays.

For sculpture aficionados, a top stop is the grave of Jesse and Cora Williams. Sculpted by Daniel Chester French, who made the Lincoln Memorial, it shows a draped female figure stretching out her arms. The John Gress Obelisk is another striking monument, especially as Gress gifted Atlanta one of its top attractions, the "Battle of Atlanta" cyclorama. Also impressive is the 26-foot-long bas-relief "Last Supper" by Fritz Paul Zimmer. The 110-foot tall water tower also catches eyes quickly, as the crenulated crown reminds one of a medieval castle. However, it only ever contained water, which fed former greenhouses on the property. All of this makes a stop at Westview Cemetery a great addition to an Atlanta itinerary that includes a visit to Georgia's trendiest neighborhood and the largest aquarium In America.