{"nrhp_refnum":"05000694","name":"Central State Hospital Cemeteries","other_names":["State Lunatic Asylum Cemetery","Georgia State Sanitarium","Milledegeville State Hospital Cemeteries"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"3 mi. SE of Milledgeville, centered on Cedar Lm, at Central State Hospital, bet. US 441 and GA 112","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hardwick","county":"Baldwin County","state":"GA","lat":33.03980947550005,"lon":-83.21933298460917,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-07-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Health/Medicine","Landscape Architecture","Politics/Government","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A district of three historic cemeteries on the south side of the Central State Hospital grounds near Milledgeville in Hardwick, Baldwin County, Georgia, used for patients of the state mental hospital from 1854 until burials ended in 1960.","why_significant":"The cemeteries are argued to be significant at the state level as burial grounds for patients of Georgia's only state-run mental health facility. They illustrate institutional burial practice, with numbered graves keyed to ledgers and cast-metal markers made on site. Their terraced landscape reflects the rural cemetery movement, and one cemetery reflects segregated burial of African-American patients.","narrative":"Three historic cemeteries on the grounds of Central State Hospital, southeast of Milledgeville, hold the graves of thousands of patients of Georgia's state mental hospital. The oldest, the Asylum Cemetery, dates from 1854 and occupies rolling, terraced land north of Camp Creek, with an allée of cedars and roughly 7,500 to 8,500 graves. South Camp Creek Cemetery holds trench graves dug about 1938-1939, where remains from the New Colored Cemetery were moved when a tuberculosis hospital was built. The New Colored Cemetery was laid out for African-American patients. Most graves carry only cast-metal markers showing a number, made at the hospital and keyed to ledger books now at the Georgia Archives. The cemeteries were closed to new burials in 1960. They are significant for what they show about institutional care of the dead, segregation in medicine and burial, and a planned landscape influenced by the rural cemetery movement.","period_of_significance":"1854-1960","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Closed to new burials in 1960; the oldest cemetery has been partly restored, with modern gates, benches and a statue added.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.043386-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/05000694.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000694/4f05bbb137-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000694/4f05bbb137-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Blastoids","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central_State_Hospital_Cemeteries.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Blastoids</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central_State_Hospital_Cemeteries.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206851","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117445147"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/baldwin-county/central-state-hospital-cemeteries-05000694/"}