The Mount Hope Cemetery Is One Of Georgia’s Spookiest Cemeteries

Cemeteries in Georgia are, of course, spooky places: after all, you're quite literally surrounded by dead people. However, there's also something hauntingly beautiful about visiting them. Visit a historic graveyard and it's easy to see why these places were treated as parks in Victorian times. I love walking through old cemeteries and pondering life's meaning. If you're looking for a particularly scenic, but also creepy cemetery in Dahlonega, GA, it doesn't get much better than the Mount Hope Cemetery. Check it out:

The Mount Hope Cemetery is just a few blocks away from Dahlonega's downtown district.

The graveyard dates back to before the Civil War, and there are many Confederate soldiers' graves here.

During wartime, it was not always possible to identify a body, so many of the graves are simply labelled as "Unknown."

This makes this a particularly haunting place. It's beautiful that people cared enough to memorialize the dead, but the thought of no one present being able to identify remains is a depressing one.

Most of the old graves are limited to one area, but the cemetery also has plenty of newer grave sites, too.

One unique aspect of some of the older graves here is that many of the soapstone tomb markers are a "slot-and-tab" box style. These markers are exclusively limited to a small geographic region centered around North Georgia.

The markers form a sort of box, but the box is empty and the bodies are buried underground.

It's thought that this served as protection against animals trampling over freshly-buried graves.

Dahlonega is a wonderful town, and it's so eerie how close the cemetery is to many of the town's tourist attractions.

This is a beautiful cemetery that's definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

There are plenty of wonderful vacation rental homes in Dahlonega, GA available on Vrbo. This is truly one of the most charming towns in North Georgia and it's definitely worth a visit thanks to its natural beauty and fascinating history.