About Dewberry and Park City

Even though we’ve been living in Northwestern Georgia for some time now we’re still discovering communities only a short distance from our house. Part of the reason for that is that almost nothing is laid-out in the familiar grid pattern. Roads follow the direction dictated by the ubiquitous hills and mountains that dominate the area. Straight, flat roads are rare. Curving, up-and-down roads are the norm. It’s fun to drive on these roads. They're often narrow with trees on both sides and little traffic. You round a curve and suddenly find yourself in a small community. It was on one such road one day last spring that we came across the Dewberry/Park City Community Cemetery.

Having been involved in genealogy for over 25 years, cemeteries draw my attention like a magnet. Except for the sign this cemetery looks to be forgotten. From the road, portions of a grave marker and cross can be seen in the thick brush. Such finds are a genealogist’s dream or nightmare depending on your point of view. The people buried here are forgotten, as if they never existed. Die-hard genealogists often will scour abandoned cemeteries, recording whatever information is available on grave markers and posting it to various internet sites.

My curiosity got the best of me. It was mid-day, hot and muggy, and the brush was shoulder high, comprised mostly of thorny raspberry bushes. I made a mental note to return in two weeks when those berries should be ripe, but didn't do it. I found two grave markers, both members of a Buchanan family. Surprisingly, the deaths occurred 1981 and 1992. I expected the graves to be much older. I was not able to reach the cross. There probably are more graves but a machete would be needed to find them.

About a mile further down the road we came upon the Dewberry and Park City Community Playground. It’s a decent little park, I assume maintained by the residents, who seem to be very adamant about what goes on in their park. The sign brought a smile to my face, and I remember thinking, "Yeah, this is the south."

I don't know this for a fact but I'm assuming that Dewberry and Park City are census designated places, just like Fairview. To my knowledge these communities don't have any governmental agencies: no police force, fire department, no city hall, no nothing.I wonder if that explains why the cemetery is not maintained. But then where did the money come from for the playground? I had never heard of census designated places before. From now on when I write about them I will refer to them as CDP. I thought that maybe they're unique to the south. So I googled census designated places in Wisconsin. Turns out that Wisconsin has 179. Georgia has 89. Just shows what I know; or don't know.