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History with Kelly Calhoun
Kelly Calhoun
Passionate "Preservation Agent" and Historic Architectural Preservationist of Calhoun Preservation. Kelly comes under the wings of local historian, Kathy "Riverside Kate" Hearn to tell the vibrant and layered history of Atlanta's Upper Westside.
MONTGOMERY CEMETERY
Oldest Marked Cemetery in Atlanta Endeavors Local Landmark Status
July 2026
By Kelly Calhoun of Calhoun Preservation
Author’s note: This story has been recently rediscovered. This historic overview will provide a land-centered perspective in an effort to tell the land’s full history with respect and dignity for all people involved. The evolution of this story into racial and ethnic cross-overs seeks to enrich the historical narrative by reevaluating, re-contextualizing, and honoring some often-marginalized figures, providing a deeper appreciation of their contributions to our shared heritage. The hope is that sharing this story can foster connection, acknowledgement and healing, which is part of the planned preservation of this important local landmark.
As the United States of America celebrates the 250th anniversary as a nation, attention turns to a remarkable yet little-known site in Upper Westside Atlanta. Archaeological investigations and historical research indicate that Montgomery Cemetery is the oldest marked cemetery in Atlanta and occupies the location of what was once Fulton County’s earliest settlement.
Originally established as a family burial ground for Major James McConnell Montgomery (1768-1842), one of the area’s earliest White settlers and American Revolutionary soldiers, the cemetery contains graves of pioneers whose lives are closely intertwined with the history of Atlanta and its vicinity. The names found within the cemetery connect to some of the region’s most significant historic landmarks and transportation routes, including Standing Peachtree, Fort Peachtree, Montgomery Ferry, the Standing Peachtree Post Office, the Western and Atlantic Railroad, DeFoor’s Ferry, and Nancy’s Creek.
In 1931, renowned Atlanta historian Franklin M. Garrett wrote that Montgomery Cemetery was the only surviving man-made remnant of the era when this area served as an important trading center between Cherokee communities and Americans settlers, as well as the site of the region’s first American post office. Nearly a century later, that assertion remains largely unchallenged.
Today, preservation advocates in Upper Westside Atlanta, working alongside the Atlanta Preservation Center and local elected officials, are pursuing designation of Montgomery Cemetery as a Local Historic Landmark. Such recognition could provide access to preservation grants, perpetual maintenance funding, conservation services, and site improvements that would help safeguard this irreplaceable resource for future generations.
Montgomery Cemetery is particularly remarkable because it remains largely undisturbed despite being surrounded by major roadways, commercial development, and modern infrastructure. Hidden behind The Corner Grille restaurant and adjacent to the Silver Comet Trail, the cemetery entrance is marked by a historical marker with a brief history of the site, followed by wood steps leading atop a wooded hill draped in ivy and mature trees. Few Atlantans are aware of its existence. To those traveling along Marietta Boulevard through the rapidly developing upper westside, the landscape offers little indication that one of Atlanta’s oldest historic sites lies concealed just beyond view.
The cemetery primarily serves as the final resting place of members of the James McConnell Montgomery and Martin DeFoor families. According to a 2024 archaeological report prepared by New South Associates, this 0.52-acre lot contains 32 graves, including 15 marked burials dating from 1820 to 1882, 12 fieldstone markers, and five potential unmarked graves identified through subsurface indicators and vegetation patterns associated with historic burial practices. The grave of Major Montgomery has been individually marked by the Graves Committee of the Sons of the American Revolution.
The cemetery’s two principal family plots - the Montgomery plot and the DeFoor plot - are enclosed by crude fieldstone walls approximately two feet high, together measuring roughly 60 feet long by 30 feet wide. Within these enclosures stand a collection of finely crafted memorials featuring carved mortuary art, personalized epitaphs, and period funerary symbolism. Architectural features include three marble obelisks, six marble and steatite tablets, two marble box tombs, and two marble ledger stones. Outside the family enclosures, simpler fieldstone markers and tablets commemorate additional burials.
The identities of those interred in the unmarked graves remain unknown and invite broader discussions about Atlanta’s antebellum and postbellum history. These burials may represent laborers associated with construction of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, enslaved or formerly enslaved individuals connected to nineteenth-century plantations, neighboring residents, or travelers who lacked the means to afford formal grave markers. According to Leigha Herrin, mortuary archaeologist with New South Associates, archaeological excavation would be required to determine the identities of those buried there.
Herrin believes the cemetery may be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at either the state or local level. Achieving such designation would require extensive comparative research examining similar historic cemeteries throughout Georgia and the broader region. David Mitchell of the Atlanta Preservation Center notes that recognizing Montgomery Cemetery through Local Landmark designation would help preserve an important chapter of Atlanta’s origin story and strengthen public understanding of the region’s earliest settlement history.
As the upper westside of Atlanta continues to grow and redefine itself, Montgomery Cemetery stands as a rare and tangible link to the city’s earliest years - a wooded hilltop landscape where the stories of Native peoples, settlers, merchants, railroad workers, and pioneering families converge. Preserving this historic cemetery ensures that these stories remain visible, accessible, and honored as the nation reflects upon 250 years of American history. //
THE UPPER WESTSIDE STORY
The layered history of Atlanta’s Upper Westside and the land that shaped the city.
January 2026
By Kathy “Riverside Kate” Hearn & Kelly Calhoun
THE LAYERED HISTORY OF ATLANTA'S UPPER WESTSIDE AND THE LAND THAT SHAPED THE CITY
Atlanta’s Upper West Side possesses a rich and layered history that few people today fully recognize, yet it remains worthy of acknowledgment and remembrance. Once considered part of the surrounding “country” rather than the city itself, this area has experienced repeated cycles of growth and decline. Although modern industry and commerce dominate its outward appearance, these developments conceal the still-bucolic neighborhoods that line its streets and echo an earlier, pastoral past.
One of Atlanta’s most iconic names, “Peachtree,” originated not in the city center but in Bolton, at the Indian village of Standing Peachtree in northwest Atlanta. This name predates the city itself and reflects a much older cultural landscape. Standing Peachtree was located along an ancient Indian path on both sides of the Chattahoochee River, near the mouth of Peachtree Creek. The site served as an important center of living and trade for the Creek and Cherokee peoples long before European settlement transformed the region.
The origin of the name “Standing Peachtree” has been debated for generations. Some accounts suggest it referred to a “pitch tree,” a pine used for extracting resin, while others believe it was named for an actual peach tree that served as a landmark. Regardless of its precise origin, the name endured and became inseparable from Atlanta’s identity.
Following the Revolutionary War, tensions increased as white settlements expanded east and west of Creek territory. Caught between these settlements, the Creek Indians fought to retain their lands along the Chattahoochee River. The War of 1812 brought additional people and military activity to Standing Peachtree, further accelerating change.
Reverend William Jasper Cotter, who arrived during this period with his father, later described the area in his biography as a landscape of extraordinary beauty, clear rivers and creeks, fertile valleys, forested hills, and abundant wildlife. He recalled vibrant wildflowers, including honeysuckle, dogwood, redbud, and wild roses, and remembered encountering this environment as a nine-year-old during the spring.
During the War of 1812, a prominent rise overlooking the river was selected as an ideal crossing point. Major James McConnell Montgomery was enlisted to construct Fort Peachtree, also known as Fort Gilmer, and establish a flatboat ferry system.
This crossing became known as Montgomery Ferry and later DeFoor’s Ferry in 1853. By 1822, Montgomery owned more than 1,000 acres of land ceded by the Creek Indians the year before. He moved his family to the area, becoming one of the first permanent white settlers, built a home near present-day Moores Mill and Bolton Roads, continued operating the ferry, and established a church on Casey’s Hill, now Crestlawn Cemetery.
The arrival of the railroad transformed the region. In 1837, Montgomery Ferry was initially selected as the proposed railroad right here in Upper West Side in a junction known as “Terminus,” though the Zero Mile Post was later relocated to its current downtown location. By 1838, the Western & Atlantic Railroad completed a bridge at Boltonville, connecting Atlanta to major regional cities. The railroad spurred Atlanta’s rapid development into the state’s most important inland transportation center.
After the Civil War, the pastoral farms along the Chattahoochee evolved into residential communities that became known as the Upper West Side. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, neighborhoods expanded, including Riverside, developed after the introduction of electric streetcars.
By 1952, these neighborhoods were annexed into the City of Atlanta, leading to increased industrialization. Beginning in the 1980s and accelerating after 2000, new residents and redevelopment initiatives revitalized the area. Today, the Upper West Side seeks to restore and celebrate its deep historical legacy and renewed sense of place.
*As documented by primary author Kathy “Riverside Kate” Hearn, with research and editorial support by Kelly Calhoun, Architectural Historian.
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PHOTO CREDITS:
Header "Train" - Raphael Tuck & Son’s Post Card Series No. 2438, “Atlanta, GA. Art Publisher to their Majesties the King and Queen. The Western & Atlantic R. R. Bridge Over Chattahoochee River is eight miles out of Atlanta, and was built in 1850 at a cost to the State of $7,000,000. The Railroad, 139 miles in extent, is the main highway between the Ohio Valley and the South Atlantic Coast; it was the objective point of Sherman’s bloody and victorious campaign in 1864.
Footer "Map" - A map courtesy of The Atlanta Constitution, "Ancient Cemetery Marks Site of Fulton County's First Town." Sunday, May 3, 1931, page 13 (digital 90). 1) Location of Montgomery cemetery; 2) Old Martin DeFoor home, no longer standing; 3) Residence of Martin Walker, grandson of Martin DeFoor and on whose property the cemetery is located; 4) Location of Standing Peachtree; 4) Location of Standing Peachtree as show by the Eleazer Early map of Georgia drawn in 1818; 5) Location of the old ferry across the river; 6) River pumping station, Atlanta waterworks
Early map of Fulton County lines and formation.
