Historic Macedonia African Cemetery -
Near the corner of Medlock Bridge Rd and State Bridge Rd is an under-appreciated historical site.
It is a point of contention between St Ives neighbors, and the billboard company, as they petition to erect a HUGE sign nearby. Within 500 feet is (against state law).
Below is an article that someone wrote about the cemetery many years ago.
Source: Sharon Flanagan, November 13, 1997
Thanks to good work of the St Ives neighbors in 1998, they successfully had Fulton County use eminent domain to maintain and protect the cemetery.
Unfortunately, when we became the City of Johns Creek, the cemetery has been neglected and is currently a dumping site and homeless encampment.
To no avail, the City has not responded to why they have neglected this cemetery and not sought to pursue legal title and to transfer maintenance rights to preserve the history.
We advocate their position changes in the short future.
UPDATE: The City has cleaned up the cemetery.
Have you visited the Historic Macedonia African Cemetery?
Thank you for this article, I was not even aware this was here in our city. It is disgraceful that the city has done nothing about this property. When they are asking for a park and rec bond to pass and do not even mention this, it is more than sad. Why continue to purchase more park land when they are not even maintaining the land available to them? Hopefully the city will fulfill their responsibility and take on this upkeep.
The irony is that homelessness continues to prevail our communities even in an affluent neighborhood such as John's Creek. Minorities continue to face socioeconomic disadvantages even in 2016. I agree with the preservation of this site as a reminder of how far we came and how far more we need to go.
Therese Murphy
I am continuously amazed by the City's Lack of Vision and Planning.
How can they have ignored this Historical Treasure for 10 years yet spend enormous amounts of time and money researching the JC City Center? Attempting to create a Plastic City and Main Street where once doesn' exist...oh, and let's not forget the water feature.
How about using and developing the resources and rich history of our area? How about listening to our residents instead of the Mayor and City Council pursuing their own visions and unrealistic dreams.
Warsaw, Shakerag, Ocee, Newtown: Four distinct areas that are fading away here in Johns Creek.
The remainders of some of these communities are nothing more than a note on a historical page or a forgotten cemetery or too.
Some of these historical cites serve as impediments to what some would call progress. Others would say that history is being erased for the Almighty Dollar.
These four distinct areas should each have elected their own Council Member, with two at-large positions and one Mayor. We should reference them as the Warsaw Representative, the Shakerag Representive, the Ocee Representative and the Newtown Representative.
Folks complain there is no identity here in Johns Creek, Hard to argue that. When asked where they live, people cite neighborhoods and not communities.
The geographic center of Johns Creek, according to online references is located in what would have been Warsaw, in the Medlock Bridge neighborhood.
Yet when asked, most folks would not have a clue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johns_Creek,_Georgia
Autrey Mill Nature Preserve & Heritage Center is working to preserve and interpret the history of these four cross road communities. They are non-profit and the parks bond includes money to help their efforts (the City owns the land). AMNP would love to do more to protect the history of our city. Support them is you're interested and would like to help.
Quite unfortunate that the City wants to keep expanding its responsibilities while not managing what it already is responsible for.
That's why we are against giving them more money via TSPLOST.
Between the lack of accountability and the lack of well executed projects we can all list, we need to hit the PAUSE button, not the Accelerator.
Remember that Council Member Lin's argument was "Because we spent what we had, now we need to tax more."
That is the worst tax principle EVER! It's up to you to slam the brakes on excessive taxation.
http://www.noTsplost.com/
This sounds like a great project for a Leadership Johns Creek team. Why do we need the government to take care of everything?
That's a great idea. The Boy Scouts were maintaining it, back when Fulton county were overseeing it.
For the past 10 years its fallen by the wayside.
FOIA documents, reveal the City was aware of the land, and has the ability to take legal title and maintenance rights, and yet haven't till this day.
Before any non-profit steps in, code enforcement and police need to remove the homeless camps and all the structures and garbage there. That hasn't been done as of Sept 11, 2016.
When Johns Creek took over from Fulton County the cemetery became THEIR responsibility. Now if they want to coordinate the maintenance of it, so be it. But it was already their job.
Update: The City is in the process of
Rectifying the situation.
Thank you for this article and now I know this is a historic landmark in our community. Based on the comments above it appears Johns Creek's elected officials and Public Works Director Tom Black knew it was their responsibility to take care of this historic landmark, and their inaction speaks for itself. This is another clear example of the City's rudderless management approach.
Its an important part of history that needs to be preserved.