Odyssey’s Visit to The Historic Oakland Cemetery – A Journey Worth Every Sweltering Step
Odyssey 6th Grade visited The Historic Oakland Cemetery today. Founded in 1850, in the rural countryside – one mile from downtown Atlanta – it is by far my personal favorite field trip each summer, in spite of the heat. Steeped in beauty and history, the cemetery is very active for a place of rest. Frequent tours, special events, picnics, and concerts keep the past connected to the present in the Victorian-styled cemetery. My colleagues and I have come to anticipate the apprehension a few of our students express prior to the trip; however, we marvel even more so at their comments after we return.
Students, please take a moment to write about your trip to Oakland. Was it what you expected? What do you and will you remember most about the visit?
This fieldtrip was all that I expected. The guide really gave us a clue that the cemetery was not scary, not that I was scared. The best part about the cemetery was the explanation of the meaning of the symbols and signs that the guide shared with us.
Our trip to the historic Oakland Cemetery was better than I expected. I thought that it was just going to be like a regular cemetery, but when we got there I was amazed about how many historic and important people were buried there. I will probably remember that how the Jews wanted to be separated from the other people. I will also remember the African-American people who couldn’t afford head stones. Even though it was really, hot it was really fun because we got to see the graves of people we had heard about during Odyssey.
My field trip to the Oakland Cemetery was very interesting. Before the day occurred, I was thinking to myself whether I’d go to the cemetery or not. People kept talking about if they would see ghosts, zombies, or spirits. I told them there is no such thing as ghosts or zombies. If they did exist, they only come at night; and this educational day is about learning about people from the past and not about fiction or a fairytale . Then I decided to go because we all have to learn about the past and our ancestors. By the way, there is no way not to go.
When I found out that we had to go to a cemetery, I asked, “Why do we have to go to a cemetery?” I thought it made no complete sense, but after they explained it had many historic figures, I realized that it related to our theme. It was nothing like I expected; I thought it would be creepier, like in the movies when zombies pop out. The tour was more educational, and I became so curious that it was actually quite fascinating. I would love to go again and participate in some of the unique festivities.
Jacauri, age 11, Odyssey
I think the trip to the Oakland Cemetery was good and helpful for us to learn some historical facts about some people’s lives. For example, Margret Mitchell is buried in the ground in the cemetery. Also, her parents are buried there as well. There are over 75,000 people buried in the cemetery. Did you know that Maynard Jackson was buried there? The Oakland Cemetery was one of the best field trips I have ever experienced. I hope in the future, 6th graders will also like the field trip.
The field trip to The Oakland Cemetery to me was not what I expected. My first thoughts about going to a cemetery were, “No way!” Now when I look back, I’m actually glad I went. What I expected was to be walking through dark woods looking at graves. I did expect to learn lots, but what I didn’t expect was to learn as much as I did.
I didn’t expect to be walking in the sun learning about how many people ended up being buried in The Oakland Cemetery. Also I learned how the Oakland Cemetery was started. The first location of The Oakland Cemetery was down town. Among the many important people who are buried there are Maynard Jackson, a former mayor for the city of Atlanta and Margret Mitchell, the author of “Gone with the Wind.”
Next time when someone says we’re going to a cemetery, I won’t scrunch up my face at first and say no way. I would really love to go back to The Oakland Cemetery one day.
At our field trip to the Oakland Cemetery, I discovered that it is a beautiful place. At the beginning, I felt normal. It was like we were going to walk in a park. There they said that you could walk or ride your bike there. The cemetery tells lots about the city’s history. Lots of people are buried there. This cemetery is the Atlanta cemetery.
I did not know what to expects because I didn’t know where we were going . When we got there I thought it was awesome to visit The Oakland Cemetery. We learned so much about the history of the cemetery. I think one cool thing about the visit was when we got to see inside the mausoleum.
Oakland Cemetery
How did I feel before I came to the Cemetery? Before we got to the cemetery I felt freighted because I thought that we would’ve seen ghost floating and it would be tissue hanging from tree and fog on the ground. But after entering the cemetery and seeing the beautiful trees, flowers, and monuments I felt a little bit better. On this trip I learn about the different history about Atlanta civil right movement and the civil war. After my experience at the Oakland cemetery I felt excited to learn more but it was time to go.
The Oakland Cemetery was not what I expected. I thought the trip was going to be boring, but it actually turned out to be very entertaining. When they told the class that we where going to a cemetery, I was kind of scared because I thought it was going to be just the 6th graders walking at a cemetery with no guide, but when we got there we had a guide and the cemetery was very nice. It also had a lot of interesting facts to learn about the people buried in the cemetery, like what they did, and our guide told us about how they had family plots with just one family in on area all together.
Our guide also explained to us how an old lady had a mockingbird named Tweet and that she buried it at the cemetery, and she showed us the bird’s grave. The head stone was a lamb. We also got to look in a grave, but it was in this cabin looking house, a mausoleum, so we looked in the window and saw what was in the house. The cemetery was the best I’ve ever seen and that’s one thing I will remember. Also I will remember all the fancy graves that where there.
When I first heard that we were going to a cemetery, I was kind of frightened because I haven’t been to one in a while. But, when my teacher said that Oakland Cemetery was a historic cemetery with lots of historic people such as Maynard Jackson, I began to get happy because he made a big change in Atlanta as mayor.
When I went, I didn’t want to look inside of the mausoleum. I started to enjoy doing scary things like that. But, what made the trip tiring was the sun and how to it was. But, besides the sun I was learning well and had lots of questions.
At first, before I went to Oakland Cemetery, I felt scared and thought that I was going to be sick. However, after hearing and seeing some of the artifacts, I felt relief. The cemetery was very fun and educational. I did learn a lot of facts about the cemetery.
The Germans would drape a sheet over the grave stone, and that would mean that it was a male. Also the Germans did not believe in God, so they would carve a star into the grave. Something else I learned was that the Oakland Cemetery hosts music festivals, Halloween night, picnic, and many more fun things.
Oakland Cemetery was awesome! There were famous people dead there. It is a huge cemetery. It also had beautiful flowers there. Also there were very tall trees. It’s sad that some people go at night and damage stuff in the Oakland Cemetery. I will remember going to the Oakland Cemetery.
The experience I had was very different than how I expected it to be . I had expected it to be very scary but the longer we were there the more I learnt. It was a pleasurable experience. We saw a lot of confederate solders. My favorite part was the unknown confederate’s head stone of a lion it was very pretty and thoughtful even though it he was unknown.
At Oakland Cemetery the students, including me, learned a lot of fun facts about our history of Atlanta. We learned that some people buried their have national monuments.
For example, some graves were shaped like beds. They where shaped like beds because cemetery means sleeping (resting) place, and their family wanted to show that. Also we read about a lady named Margaret Mitchell. She wrote a novel about when the Civil War was going on called Gone with the Wind.
I really enjoyed the trip to Oakland! I also learned some more fun facts about the people of Atlanta.
Kelsey, 11 Odyssey