Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainDahlonega's 1833 cemetery where a 1953 photograph and ongoing Civil War-era sightings anchor its paranormal reputation
Wimpy Mill Road, Dahlonega, GA 30533
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public access during daylight hours
Access
Limited Access
Uneven hillside terrain; gravel road, grass, and sloped sections
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1833 · Georgia Gold Rush Era · Early Lumpkin County Settlement · Civil War Period Burials
Dahlonega's establishment as a town followed the first major gold rush in U.S. history, beginning in 1828–1829 in the north Georgia mountains. Lumpkin County was created in 1832, and the town of Dahlonega was designated as the county seat. The cemetery on Wimpy Mill Road dates to 1833 — among the earliest organized burial grounds in the county.
The landscape around Wimpy Mill Road lies outside the commercial downtown square area and retains more of the rural character of early Lumpkin County. The cemetery's graves span the mid-19th century, including the Civil War period, when the area saw troop movements and the displacement that accompanied the Confederate and Union campaigns through north Georgia in 1864.
The cemetery has been documented by Explore Georgia and by local history and ghost tourism writers as a recognized heritage site in the Dahlonega area. The Lumpkin County Historical Society and local historical documentation focus primarily on the downtown Mt. Hope Cemetery, making the Wimpy Mill Road property less formally documented in published records — which has contributed to its status as a site of ongoing oral tradition and informal investigation rather than organized heritage programming.
Sources
The most specific primary account associated with this cemetery belongs to Madeleine Anthony, who served as town librarian and photographed what she described as figures in Civil War-era uniforms in 1953. This pre-dates the wave of ghost tourism that came to Dahlonega decades later and represents an early, named-source documentation of the location's reputation. The photograph itself has not been located in publicly accessible archival collections in the research conducted here.
Recurring sightings described in the local ghost-tourism literature include a hooded female figure and children. A Gainesville-based paranormal society has added the cemetery to its formal investigation roster, characterizing the activity as residual in nature — meaning the accounts tend toward repetitive impressions rather than interactive apparitions.
Note: This property on Wimpy Mill Road is distinct from the downtown Mt. Hope Cemetery property (also in Dahlonega) that holds the Sam Darter burial and the slot-and-tab grave markers. The two should not be conflated.
Founded in 1833 during the Georgia Gold Rush, this is Dahlonega's oldest cemetery. Graves span from the early settlement period through the Civil War era, and a documented local tradition of soldier apparitions in the cemetery dates to at least 1953 when the town librarian photographed what she described as uniformed figures.
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Aerial survey · USDA NAIPDahlonega, GA
Mt. Hope Cemetery is the oldest public cemetery within the city of Dahlonega, Georgia, established alongside the town in 1833. The first recorded burial was Samuel Darter, the same year. The cemetery is the burial place of veterans from every American war back to the Revolution and features the regionally distinctive slot-and-tab grave markers.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPGainesville, GA
Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville, Georgia is the burial ground for General James Longstreet and for many of the 203 people killed in the April 6, 1936 tornado — one of the deadliest in U.S. history. A section of the cemetery contains mass graves of unidentified tornado victims. The cemetery also holds those connected to the 1958 disappearance of four women known locally as the 'Ladies of the Lake.'
Los Angeles, CA
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a 62-acre cemetery at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, California, founded in 1899 as Hollywood Cemetery on a 100-acre tract of former farmland. Paramount Pictures' studios occupy 40 acres of the original cemetery property. The cemetery was renamed Hollywood Memorial Park in 1939 and Hollywood Forever in 1998 after a 1990s bankruptcy and revival. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.