“Lesson Plan for Chapter 1: The Status Quo Made Picturesque: Nineteenth-Century Macon, Georgia, and Its Garden of the Dead by Scarlet Jernigan” in “A Resource for Instructors”
Lesson Plan for Chapter 1: The Status Quo Made Picturesque: Nineteenth-Century Macon, Georgia, and Its Garden of the Dead by Scarlet Jernigan
Using the city of Macon, Georgia, in the early to mid-1800s as a window to the past, this is a student activity designed to demonstrate the importance of GIS (geographic information systems) data and deathways primary sources to the study of history. The geography of antebellum Macon’s cemeteries was not random, nor were the epitaphs that the survivors of the dead deemed appropriate. In preparation for this activity, students should read Chapter One, “The Status Quo Made Picturesque: Nineteenth-Century Macon, Georgia, and Its Garden of the Dead.”
Orient yourself with the map. If you zoom out a bit, you will see where Rose Hill Cemetery is situated in relation to the modern city of Macon, Georgia. It is at the northern edge of the boundaries of what was the antebellum city and lies alongside the Ocmulgee River, which was a vital waterway in early Macon. Note that this is a modern topographical map, which includes present-day roads and features outside the cemetery, many of which did not exist in the antebellum era. To the north and west of Rose Hill, you will see the newer Riverside and Linwood Cemeteries. To return to Rose Hill, hit the home (house) button at the top left of the map.
Origins
Make sure you have clicked on the "Content" button at the top left of the page to see the various available layers. Then check the view box to the left of the layer "Rose Hill by Birthplace" to see this layer and uncheck the view box on any other layers. Click on the legend button under the layer title if necessary to see what each color represents on the map. (If you do not see the legend button, click on the title of the layer.)
Clicking on any mapped point results in a pop-up with information about the individual buried there. Occasionally points are so close together that multiple points are on top of each other. These graves are likely in the same lot, and the deceased may even share a tombstone. When multiple graves share the same mapped point, the pop-up includes "(1 of ?)" in the top left corner. Use the arrow button at the top right of the pop-up to view the other burials represented by that point.
To view the data in another format, click the table button under the "Rose Hill by Birthplace" layer. A table will appear at the bottom of the screen with the data for all the points in this layer. Clicking on a record in the table will highlight the corresponding point on the map.
Questions to consider for this layer:
- What stands out about the origins of white Maconites?
- Are you surprised? If so, why? (For instance, are there more or fewer northerners and Europeans than you expected in this interior city in Georgia in the antebellum era?)
- Given what you know about Macon and the United States in the antebellum era--knowledge provided both by the chapter about Macon and other studies--why might people have moved to Macon?
- What groups of white Maconites are visibly clustered or segregated in the cemetery?
- Why might these groups cluster? Defend your answer.
- Did you expect more separation between regional groups (North vs. South or American-born vs. foreign-born)? Why or why not? Defend your answer.
Inscriptions
Uncheck the viewing box for the "Rose Hill by Birthplace" layer and check the "Select Tombstone Inscriptions" viewer box. This layer reveals the surviving antebellum tombstones in Rose Hill that included a line or two indicating where the deceased was born. Use the instructions outlined above to navigate this layer as well.
- Why might Maconites have chosen to include the deceased's state or country of origin on their gravestones? Defend your answer.
- What other elements do some of these inscriptions include? (Do not forget the table button to aid in viewing epitaphs in a systematic manner.)
- Why do you think Maconites chose these particular epitaphs to represent the deceased? Defend your answer.
- What do these epitaphs reveal about what Maconites valued?
- What do these inscriptions reveal about gender?
Historical Methods
- How is this kind of GIS mapping helpful in the study of the history of a city?
- How does this mapping aid in our understanding of cemeteries in particular?
- What are the drawbacks of GIS mapping in the study of both cities and cemeteries?
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