The foundation of the church ruins

St Paul AME Church Cemetery

The St Paul AME Church Cemetery is located on Cochran Mill Rd, approximately 0.16 mile north of Wilkerson Mill Rd on the east side of the road. The cemetery extends to the left and right behind the church ruins.

According to locals, this site was inhabited by a White church in its early days, and then later by the St Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was vandalized and burned in the 1960s.

There are still many residents in Palmetto and Chattahoochee Hills who have ancestors buried in this cemetery and in March 2009, several interested church members met with the Rev. Chester Beavers of Palmetto and the Chattahoochee Hills Historical Society to organize a clean-up day.

On April 4, 2009, approximately 15 volunteers participated in the clean-up day. As a result, 162 possible gravesites were identified, including four box tombs, 5-10 tombstones, and fieldstones marking the remainder of the gravesites, making this one of the largest cemeteries in the city of Chattahoochee Hills.

There is a lot more work to be done on the cemetery site, which covers an estimated 2/3 of the two-acre parcel, before all of the grave sites can be located. Chattahoochee Hills Historical Society will continue to work with Rev. Beavers and other volunteers, as well as the landowner, who has been extremely supportive, until this cemetery is cleaned up and restored as best as our resources allow.