{"nrhp_refnum":"01000941","name":"Union Methodist Church Cemetery-Hays Campground Cemetery","other_names":["Hays Campground (Union Methodist) Cemetery"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Union Church Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Butler","county":"Taylor County","state":"GA","lat":32.63727834600007,"lon":-84.26299394299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-09-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Art","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural church-associated cemetery of about 2.5 acres on Union Church Road near Butler, Taylor County, Georgia. It holds roughly 200 burials, with separate white and African-American sections, and its earliest marked grave dates to 1847.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery is significant in art and architecture for its varied stone, metal and wood grave markers and fencing, especially four rare wooden grave shelters. It is also significant in social history as a community and church burial ground tied to the founding McCants and Hays families, with an African-American section that includes early graves of enslaved people.","narrative":"Union Methodist Church Cemetery, also called Hays Campground Cemetery, sits across the road from Union United Methodist Church in a rural part of Taylor County, Georgia. Land for the church and burial ground was deeded in 1840 by Jeremiah C. McCants and Robert P. Hays, and the earliest marked grave dates to 1847. About 200 people are buried here, in family plots with upright headstones, stone and concrete grave caps, a short obelisk and several iron fences. A fenced section on the west side holds African-American graves, many of them early and unmarked. The cemetery's most distinctive feature is four pine grave shelters, pegged together, covering some of the oldest burials; they are a rare Victorian custom that was common from about 1840 to 1890. The name Hays comes from a nearby camp meeting ground used from 1874 until the mid-1890s, whose buildings are gone. Burials continue today.","period_of_significance":"1847-1951","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still an active burial ground; the nearby church and the former campground are not part of the nominated property.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.624148-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/01000941.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209586","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/taylor-county/union-methodist-church-cemetery-hays-campground-cemetery-01000941/"}