Historic Potts Family Cemetery
Recently, the ACC staff has repaired and restored the gravestones in the historic Potts family cemetery located on the southern edge of the Potts Mountain easement. The graves here date back to the first child of landowner Young Potts who died as an infant in 1843. Potts initially purchased 160 acres of this area, called Wolfscratch in 1836, later adding additional acres aimed at preventing others from moving too close to his homestead. On December 6, 1856 Young Potts died and was buried in the family plot.
Conservation Cemetery
Potts Mountain Burial Ground is Georgia's first dedicated green cemetery on perpetually conserved land. We are conserving natural resources including restoration and preservation of habitat. There are approximately 85 hardwood packed acres on the mountain set aside for this cost-effective and natural method of burial.
We are members of the Green Burial Council and demonstrate compliance with their established standards and sustainable practices in the funeral industry. We are preserving and stewarding the land through burial.
Ecosystem Service Benefits:
- Potts Mountain Burial Grounds is a natural and wild space with shady forests, creeks and many species of wildlife that call this place home.
- The burial area is hallowed ground that is protected forever by conservation easement.
- Green burial limits one’s impact on the environment and is a cost savings for the family.
- Open to all people, regardless of race, creed, color, gender, religious beliefs, or political affiliation.
Green Burial
The conservation cemetery ecosystem service project involves green burials. An alternative to traditional contemporary interment which leeches chemicals into the ground, green burial is a way of caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact. Natural or green burial is the way our ancestors buried their dead. With a green burial: there can be no embalming, no vaults, and all burial containers or shrouds must be biodegradable. There will be no headstones, rather each burial site will be marked with Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates and an azimuth stone made from marble quarried right here in Georgia.
Local Impact
All burial materials including biodegradable wicker or bamboo caskets, and funeral shrouds will be manufactured locally, further reducing the carbon footprint involved with interment.