Believed to have been utilized as far back as the early 1800s, the Old City Cemetery is the county’s oldest cemetery. The first documented resident was Reuben B. Barney whose tombstone reads, “Sacred to the Memory of Reuben B. Barney who departed this life 10th October 1831 in the 27th year of his age. How short his passage to the peaceful home and unexpected was his earthly doom.” Wooden markers running diagonally across the cemetery indicate the outline where Sherman’s troops entered Sandersville from the west by way of an old road.
This Victorian Era cemetery is home to Civil War soldiers, prohibitionists, one of America’s first female missionaries to China, and Governor Thomas W. Hardwick. The headstones contain funerary art dating as far back as the mid-nineteenth century. Old City Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places, and each year events are planned within the Cemetery to encourage citizens and visitors to learn more about this antebellum jewel.