Mr. Brandon Marshall is considering developing a tract of land within the city limits of Atlanta that contains a late nineteenth to early twentieth century church cemetery. Due to the extensive nature of the cemetery, any development of the tract would affect the cemetery. Mr. Marshall is considering submitting an application to the City of Atlanta to permit the relocation of the cemetery pursuant to Georgia laws governing such a relocation (the Abandoned Cemetery Act of 1992, which is now codified as OCGA 36- 72-1 et seq.) This set of code sections calls for a permit to be granted by the local governing authority if a cemetery is to be moved or modified for the purposes of land use change (development). The permit application is to consist of five items:
1. Evidence of ownership
2. Archeological delineation of the cemetery
3. Survey of the cemetery by a registered land surveyor
4. Plan to identify and notify descendants of those buried
5. Plan to relocate (exhume and reinter) those buried
This document is item 2, the archeological delineation of the cemetery. As stated in OCGA 36-72-5(2) the report should state "the number of graves believed to be present and their locations as can be determined from the use of minimally invasive investigation techniques, including remote sensing methods and the use of a metal probes, which activities shall not require a permit".
The archeological delineation of the cemetery was conducted by the author on February 1, 2008. Mr. Gresham is a registered professional archeologist (RP A) who has extensive experience in cemetery delineation and exhumation. His firm has delineated more than 50 cemeteries in Georgia, and Gresham was directly involved in at least 35 of these. The firm has moved about 17 cemeteries, and Gresham was directly involved in ten of these. In addition, Mr. Gresham has directed a cemetery recording project in his home county of Oglethorpe, in which 450 cemeteries have been located, delineated and recorded in a published book.
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