LINWOOD CEMETERY
By Jane Brady
A Place of Beauty and History The city of Columbus began as a planned city in 1828, when Georgia governor John Forsyth sent Edward Lloyd Thomas to survey a new town on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. Thomas and his crew, which included his son Truman, plodded through forests and swamps, dragging chains and measuring out the city block by block. The year of 1828 was born into a bitter winter, and as the harsh months wore on, young Truman fell ill. He succumbed to the cold and passed away on March 26th in the wilderness of what would
continued the tradition of going “up the hill” to bury their loved ones. Although it is now known as the famous “Linwood Cemetery,” it did not actually become Linwood until 1894. A fashionable suburb known as “Linwood,” named from a popular novel, “Ernest Linwood” by Caroline Lee Hentz, was nearby, and so the cemetery took that name. Linwood has survived the ravages of time, vandalism, neglect and underfunding to become the beautiful outdoor museum you see today. This transformation can be directly related to the
in cemetery restoration. Ken Thomas, at the time the Historian for the Department of Natural Resources and well known throughout the state, put the Foundation in touch with Lynette Strangstad, the premier conservator in the country. She had worked in Charleston, Savannah and at other historic cemeteries in other cities. The Foundation invited her to Columbus to assess the cemetery and was pleased that she spoke highly of the cemetery’s monuments and wrought iron fencing.The Foundation adopted her method of restoration, and continues to use her as a benchmark in restoring the cemetery’s marble, granite and brick work. What criteria does the Foundation use to decide what monuments and markers get chosen to have work done on them? The first thing looked at is
ChrisHoodBlog.com
become the neighborhood known as Linwood. Mr. Thomas carried his son’s body up the hill, northeast of town, and buried him. This was the highest point in the city, and standing in the cemetery one could see down into the town and across the Chattahoochee River to Alabama. Edward Lloyd Thomas surveyed four acres and designated this area as the cemetery. Land was set aside for the Jewish community and the first Jewish burial was in 1852. The next section of land added to the cemetery was drawn out into evenly proportioned lots, called the English Garden style. The lots were sold to the citizens of Columbus, with some of them selling for $5.00 a lot. Additional acreage was added to the cemetery until 1873 when it reached its present size of 28 acres. Since that time the citizens of Columbus LocaL
formation of the Historic Linwood Foundation. In January 1997, the local Lizzie Rutherford Chapter 60 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy called a community meeting to see if there was interest in starting a friends group for Linwood Cemetery. Over the years, the cemetery had been neglected and was not a pleasant place to visit. It was much overgrown with scrub brush and the brick walls were tumbling down in the roadway. Many of the monuments were broken. At this community meeting, to which many of the families in Columbus who had family buried in Linwood were invited, about 25 people came. They were very enthusiastic and interested in trying to reclaim the cemetery. The Historic Linwood Foundation was born. In 1997, those in the Foundation were beginners 10
SEPT EMBER -OCT OBER 2021
