welcome

Friends of Brooklyn Cemetery

Follow Us

Contact Us

Resting behind what is now Clarke Central Middle School is an eleven-acre tract of land that transports us back in time. The Brooklyn Cemetery (formerly known as the Bethlehem Cemetery) was one of the first African American cemeteries in Athens, Georgia. Established in 1882, the cemetery served as a final resting ground for many of the residents of the Brooklyn/Hawthorne area, located on the western side of Athens. Nature and time have laid claim to much of the cemetery; some tombstones have fallen and are covered with ivy, other graves are completely unmarked. One wonders who all these people were and what stories and perspectives they might offer us today.

Preserving Our Past. Guarding Our Future.