LaGrange leaders officially open restored Mulberry Street Cemetery 

LaGrange opens restored Mulberry Street Cemetery

City leaders say the historic cemetery is an important part of LaGrange's past and future.

LAGRANGE, Ga. - It’s the final resting place of Horace King, the "Bridge Builder King" who was born into enslavement and eventually became a pioneering engineer and politician. And thanks to a $2.7 million restoration project, city leaders in LaGrange say the Mulberry Street Cemetery will be a place for reflection and education for generations to come.

Community members gathered this morning in LaGrange for the grand opening ceremony of the restored Mulberry Street Cemetery (part of which was known prior to 2020 as Stonewall Cemetery), celebrating the end of a years-long effort including projects like cleaning and repairing gravestones, planting magnolia trees, installing benches and informational kiosks, and adding a new boardwalk. Speakers at the opening ceremony included Georgia State Representative Vance Smith, Jr., and Wright Mitchell, who is the executive director of The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

The history of Mulberry Street Cemetery stretches back to the 1860s, and community leaders say it’s a place that reflects the realities of life in the South during and after the Civil War. Markers there denote the final resting places of more than 300 Confederate soldiers — including enslaved orderlies. As noted earlier, famed bridge builder Horace King (1807-1885) is also buried in the cemetery; visitors will find a granite monument honoring King and his son Marshal, and the placement of the 1873 Wehadkee Creek Covered Bridge, which was moved to the cemetery from Callaway Gardens and reconstructed by King’s son George. 

Much of the work over the past several years has focused on identifying more than a thousand unmarked graves, believed to belong to African Americans who passed away between 1863 and 1930. The city teamed up with Visit LaGrange and the Troup County Archives and used ground-penetrating radar to identify the sites, which are each now honored with a new marker. Staffers at the Troup County Archives are still working to locate descendants of those who might be buried in those previously-unmarked graves.

The Mulberry Street Cemetery is located at 101 West Mulberry Street in LaGrange — for more information, click here.