Section Branding
Header Content
Oakland Cemetery Digs Up Love Stories To Share For Valentine's Day Weekend Walking Tours
Primary Content
One place where love is truly eternal: a cemetery. And this Valentine’s Day weekend, the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta is hosting walking tours for people who want to dig up some love stories from the past.
And with over 70,000 residents in this landmark cemetery, there is a plethora of romantic historical tales.
"On Second Thought" host Virginia Prescott spoke with Marcy Breffle.
One famous resident at Oakland Cemetery is Margaret Mitchell, the writer of Gone with the Wind. Mitchell’s love life had its own twists and turns. In fact, for fans of her literature, the name of one of her husbands may sound familiar.
Another popular heart-warming story is about one couple, Marion Kiser and Sarah Ivy, who first met at the cemetery itself.
Marcy Breffle, education manager of the Historic Oakland Cemetery, joined On Second Thought to share some of the romantic tales buried there.
"Love Stories at Oakland Cemetery" is sold out for this weekend, but a similar event will take place again in May, when the cemetery hosts a special date night.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
On why Oakland Cemetery is a good place to hear about romance
A lot of people think it's a very, very odd thing to do. But, you know, there's over 70,000 people buried at Oakland. And when you think about it, everyone who's buried there was either loved or loved someone else. So truly, a cemetery can be a great place to learn about love stories.
On the research gathering process behind the love stories
We depend a lot on descendants. So who can share those rich anecdotes about their family? Because you can't find all these in the newspapers and the books, but a lot of it, we have some really great volunteers who just love history and they love to research. So they will often bring their stories to the [Historic Oakland] Foundation staff, and we'll somehow try to work them into tours or they may appear on one of our special events.
On how Love Stories of Oakland happens every season — not just Valentine's Day
We do kind of like a date night and we'll partner with local restaurants so you can really make an experience out of it. But the next one is going to be on, I believe, Saturday, May 9th. And that is our spring date night. Tickets will go on sale probably early April. So if you want to get access to tickets, you can, you know, check our website in early April. And we have so many other great events.
Get in touch with us.
Twitter: @OSTTalk
Facebook: OnSecondThought
Email: OnSecondThought@gpb.org
Phone: 404-500-9457
Secondary Content
Bottom Content
