EAST POINT, Ga. — Ask most people what they know of Atlanta’s history, and nine times out of ten, you’ll probably get the answer, "Gone With The Wind."
Antebellum history aside, several miles southwest of downtown Atlanta, during the Reconstruction days following the Civil War, the City of East Point was just starting to get established.
One of its prominent families was the Connallys.
If the name sounds familiar, it should. The Connally surname can be found all around Atlanta and East Point. The Connally Building at the Underground in downtown Atlanta is a well-known location. In East Point, the name can be found on street signs, a local nature preserve - even on an enormous stained-glass window that resides at East Point First Mallalieu United Methodist Church.
What many East Pointers do not know is that the Connally family cemetery, which was once a popular rendezvous spot for families, is now buried under the stains of obscurity at the end of a nondescript cul-de-sac in the Ward C neighborhood of East Point.
“I moved into East Point about a year ago. I started to fall in love with this area. Finding out the history that's in my own backyard - it’s very surprising what you can find,” explains local historian and author, Jeff Clemmons.
With the assistance of Clemmons, My East Point News was able to reach out to another local resident and historian, Judith Vanderver, who just so happens to be a direct descendant of the Connally family.
"This is the Connally cemetery and my ancestors are buried here. We’re standing around the graves of my fourth great-grandparents, David and Elizabeth Connally," muses Vanderver as she stands next to a broken headstone.
“Hopefully have a nice quiet space here in the heart of East Point," she added. "With old-growth trees and ultimately, trying to clear this so it becomes an amenity for the neighborhood.”
The family cemetery cThe main core of the family cemetery is surrounded by a wrought iron that’s also surrounded by a barb-wire fence.
The last visit officially recorded was back in the ’80s by some members of the family and a local Girl Scout group that used to tend the areas around the headstones.
Over the years, parcels of original land have been sold off for development, leaving the lot surrounded by homes that don’t even know it's there.
Currently, the entire area has been left to the whims of nearby vegetation. Blankets of ivy vines cover many of the visible graves. Several headstones are either broken or worn down after decades of abandonment.
While a strong contingent of the Connally family still resides in metro Atlanta, none of the core family are still in East Point.
According to records procured by Clemmons from the East Point Historical Society, the land where the Connally family cemetery resides was bequeathed to the East Point First Mallalieu United Methodist Church back in 1974.
For more info about the East Point Historical Society, visit their website or for more information about the City of East Point, click here.