Crossroads Cemetery - Harmony Grove UMC

Next Cleanup: Oct 19, 2024

Did you know that in addition to the cemetery adjacent to our church, we care for a historical cemetery from our “grandparent church”?

If you are driving on Lawrenceville Hwy from Lilburn towards Tucker, you will see the sign for the Cemetery of Crossroads Methodist Church on the right soon after you pass the Jimmy Carter Blvd intersection.

This is a special cemetery in that it includes white and black persons. The black families were either slaves or former slaves.

Crossroads Methodist Episcopal Church burned down around 1859 and was rebuilt as Mount Calvary. That church built a new church at the current Harmony Grove location. The Harmony Grove M.E. Church was established in 1882.

Harmony Grove UMC organizes cleanup events at this cemetery a couple of times a year.

Clean Up Featured in Local Magazine

On October 14, 2022, members of Salem Missionary Baptist church were invited to participate in the cleanup. This is a historical black church in Lilburn that was started by slaves on the Carroll plantation. At least one member of Salem Church, Greg Bailey, has a relative buried in the Crossroads Cemetery.

This particular cleanup was covered in the 2023 Black History edition of Up Close and Personal in Tucker & Lilburn. This magazine is not available online, but copies of this issue are available at the church.

While the article was written by Harmony Grove member, Sandra Waldrop, most of the research was done by member Ann Tew. Ann gathered a large amount of information related to the cemetery and surrounding property. A considerable amount of the information was beyond the scope of the Up Close article, therefore it was decided that information could be assembled on this webpage for reference.