Celebrating 50 Years of Historic Oakland Foundation

Fifty years ago, something remarkable happened. A group of volunteers: passionate lovers of history, Atlanta, and Oakland Cemetery gathered together to form the organization that would become Historic Oakland Foundation (HOF).

Their goal: to combat the ravages of time and nature and transform Oakland Cemetery—what historian Franklin Garrett referred to as “our most tangible link between past and present”—from a forgotten, weedy mess.

In 2026, Historic Oakland Foundation is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and five decades of extraordinary work, passion, and investment that has turned Oakland Cemetery from an underinvested, crumbling site that neither honored the departed nor welcomed the living, to a place today that is a dynamic community space that looks better by the day as Historic Oakland Foundation and the City of Atlanta continue to invest in, and improve, this special treasure in the heart of the City.

Over the last fifty years, the Foundation has completed remarkable improvements and preservation work, including restoring almost twenty acres of the Cemetery, rehabilitating key infrastructure such as the Oakland Bell Tower and Beaumont Allen Greenhouse, and making the Cemetery a safe, beautiful, and inviting place for all to visit. Alongside these dramatic improvements, we’ve launched exciting, educational, and (hopefully) entertaining public programming that not only brings the Cemetery and its history to life but creates new lovers of these historic 48-acres.

Without the Foundation, none of this would have been possible.  

While we’ve been celebrating our fiftieth anniversary all year, we’re especially excited this week to honor all of those whose shoulders we walk on today as we chart a path for the next fifty years. In late September 1978, the first Sunday in the Park was hosted to celebrate the Foundation’s creation and we are thrilled to be continuing this annual tradition this Sunday (get your tickets here!) Additionally, on Thursday evening we’re hosting a Golden Jubilee Picnic – a real birthday party – to celebrate the stunning accomplishments of the last fifty years.

We’d love for you to join us this weekend at Sunday in the Park as the weather cools and summons Cemetery Season, and if you’re able please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any size to ensure that we can continue to elevate and care Oakland Cemetery for decades and centuries to come.