{"nrhp_refnum":"06001119","name":"Locust Grove Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Locust Grove Rd. SE","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sharon","county":"Taliaferro County","state":"GA","lat":33.54222803600004,"lon":-82.77546780099993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Exploration/Settlement","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Locust Grove Cemetery is a roughly half-acre Catholic burial ground about 1.7 miles southeast of Sharon, Taliaferro County, Georgia. It was laid out after an 1809 land donation and is enclosed by a low granite wall.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the last vestige of Georgia's earliest Catholic congregation and settlement, founded in the 1790s by Catholics from Maryland. It also holds fine early and mid-19th century tombstones, some carved with religious and funerary motifs. It is considered significant in art, exploration and settlement, and religion.","narrative":"Locust Grove Cemetery is a small Catholic burial ground of about half an acre in rural Taliaferro County, Georgia, southeast of Sharon. It sits within a larger tract owned by the Archdiocese of Atlanta and is surrounded by a low granite wall. It holds 58 identifiable graves with headstones dating from 1826 to 1882, grouped mostly by family, and many stones are ornately carved in sandstone, limestone and marble. Several birthplaces in Ireland are noted on the markers. The site served a congregation founded in the 1790s by Catholics from Maryland, regarded as Georgia's earliest Catholic community. Joseph Thompson's will donated the land in 1809, and the remains of the church's rock pillars still mark where an earlier church stood. The congregation later moved to Sharon. The cemetery was recognized for its age, its link to this frontier settlement, and its tombstone artistry, with a period of significance from 1809 to 1882, the date of the last marked burial.","period_of_significance":"1809-1882","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a cemetery (current function funerary/cemetery); some tombstones were restored in 1984 and 2003 following a 2000 preservation plan.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.556702-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/06001119.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209572","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/taliaferro-county/locust-grove-cemetery-06001119/"}