Cemeteries in Macon County (County)

Macon County, located in west-central Georgia, was created in 1837 from portions of Houston and Marion Counties and named in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a U.S. Senator and Revolutionary War veteran from North Carolina.

Originally inhabited by the Muscogee (Creek) people, the area became available for European-American settlement following the Creek removal in the early 19th century. Early settlers, primarily of Scots-Irish and English descent, established cotton plantations supported by enslaved labor. The Flint River provided a natural transportation route and supported agricultural development. The county seat, Oglethorpe, was named after Georgia’s colonial founder, James Oglethorpe, and once rivaled nearby Montezuma as a regional center. Baptist and Methodist congregations were prominent in early religious life. After the Civil War, Macon County remained largely rural, with farming as the primary economic activity.

Historic cemeteries such as Oglethorpe Memorial Gardens reflect the county’s antebellum origins and its transformation through Reconstruction and the 20th century.