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Historic Westview Cemetery launches
member organization, renovation plan
By Collin Kelley
Back in 1884, Oakland Cemetery was
becoming overcrowded with departed
souls. A group of prominent Atlantans
looked west of Downtown to a large swath
of rolling land still scarred by the bloody
Battle of Ezra Church during the Civil War.
It was on this site that Westview Cemetery
became the final resting place of the first
of more than 125,000 residents — and
counting.
In the intervening years, the Westview
community, established in 1910, and its
quaint bungalows have become one of the
city’s most desired neighborhoods with the
arrival of the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside
Trail. Westview Cemetery is also primed
for a renovation of its historic, but aging
structures and grounds.
To that end, Westview Cemetery and
the Atlanta Preservation Center have
launched The Friends of FFistoric Westview
Cemetery with plans to not only bring
more attention to the nearly 600-acre burial
ground, but to raise money for its historic
upkeep.
Oakland Cemetery is the resting place
of golf great Bobby Jones and “Gone With
the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell and
Maynard Jackson. Westview’s roster of
permanent residents is equally impressive:
Coca-Cola founder Asa G. Candler, the
soft drink company’s president Robert
Woodruff, Atlanta Symphony Conductor
Robert Shaw, Atlanta Falcons owner Rankin
Smith, Civil Rights icons Rev. Joseph,
Evelyn Lowery, Vivian Jones and Donald
FFollowell, and beloved local restaurateur
and LGBTQ activist Ria Pell, to name a
few.
Atlanta Preservation Center’s new
executive director David Y. Mitchell said
that unlike Oakland, which holds a handful
of burials a year, Westview is an active site
with regular funeral services. It is expected
that Westview’s permanent residents’ list
will grow to a quarter of a million.
It’s also a tourist attraction and popular
filming location, with the massive Westview
Abbey chapel and mausoleum — one of the
largest in the country — recently doubling
for drug kingpin Omar Navarro’s lair in the
Netflix series “Ozark.”
Mitchell said he hopes that Friends of
Westview will help transform the site into
a place for repeat visits, as well as a tranquil
place for walking and contemplation.
FFe said the cemetery’s recent addition to
the National Register of FFistoric Places
was another step toward bringing wider
recognition to the wonders of Westview.
“There is a weird, complex intersection
of beauty and mortality at Westview,”
Mitchell said. “You’ll want to come back
again and again.”
The first project on the Friends of
Westview’s list is the Gatehouse structure,
which was formerly the main entrance
to the cemetery. Constructed in 1890,
the Romanesque Revival bell tower is a
Westside landmark. Additions on either
side of the gate were used for office space,
storage, and a former flower shop that
provided plants for gravesites.
Mitchell envisions the Gatehouse
being used for events, exhibitions, and
community meetings, as well as a welcome
center with public, unisex bathrooms.
Also on the list of projects is restoration
of stained glass windows in the Abbey’s
chapel. The 38 panels depicting the life of
Christ were made by the LA ART Glass
Company in 1943 when the Abbey was
originally conceived by Asa Candler Jr., the
son of the Coca-Cola founder.
Since construction of the Abbey took
place during World War II, water supply
lines were made of scrap metal since most
raw materials were dedicated to the war
effort. The decay of the water lines means
the Abbey has long been without working
bathrooms or the ability to operate the lawn
fountain. Mitchell said a complete rebuild
of the pipe system could be done by 2025
with public donations.
Author Jeff Clemmons chronicled
the creation of the necropolis in his
2018 book “Atlanta’s FFistoric Westview
Cemetery” along with its colorful and
often controversial history. Asa Candler
Jr. — the eccentric millionaire who had
himself installed as director of the cemetery
association in 1934 and would remain there
for 21 years — oversaw Westview’s biggest
expansion, including the building of the
Abbey, greenhouses, a trophy room for
his big game conquests, and even a movie
theater.
Clemmons said Candler ran afoul
of mourners and legislators as he went
about the “business of death” at Westview.
Candler ran a one-stop shop for the
bereaved, offering ambulance service,
funeral home, embalming service, and the
1 0 January 2021 | ID
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