{"nrhp_refnum":"96000915","name":"Behavior Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"S end of Sapelo Island, 1.25 mi W of Hog Hammock","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hog Hammock","county":"McIntosh County","state":"GA","lat":31.428718079000078,"lon":-81.28096642499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-08-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Black"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An African-American burial ground in the center of Sapelo Island, McIntosh County, Georgia, about one and a quarter miles west of Hog Hammock. The oldest marked grave dates from 1890, and burials likely began in antebellum times.","why_significant":"It is the only remaining historic African-American cemetery on Sapelo Island and is still used by the Hog Hammock community. The nomination argues it reflects African-American burial customs, informal landscape layout, and community development, and that it could yield archaeological information. It is also treated as a traditional cultural property.","narrative":"Behavior Cemetery is an African-American burial ground in the center of Sapelo Island, Georgia, roughly a mile and a quarter west of the Hog Hammock community. About 200 graves are marked, mostly with locally made cement stones, along with some granite markers and metal funeral home tags. Many more graves are unmarked. The earliest dated stone is from 1890, though tradition holds that burials began in antebellum times, possibly growing out of a slave burial ground near Thomas Spalding's plantation quarters. Graves are arranged informally rather than in rows, and families still leave belongings of the deceased on them. It is the only historic African-American cemetery left on the island and serves the surviving Hog Hammock community, replacing an earlier cemetery lost in the 1898 hurricane. The listing rests on its role in community life, its reflection of Black burial customs and landscape traditions, and its potential to yield archaeological information. It continues in use today.","period_of_significance":"c.1865-1946","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"None (architectural classification listed as NONE)","criteria":["A","D"],"status_note":"Still in active use as a cemetery; a new fence, sign and a noncontributing maintenance shed (moved there in 1995) have been added.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.689238-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/96000915.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"97000335","name":"Sapelo Island Lighthouse","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/sapelo-island-lighthouse-97000335/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93208928","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16950960"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/mcintosh-county/behavior-cemetery-96000915/"}