Sumter County Cemetery Map (2023)

There are more than 130 known cemeteries in Sumter County, Georgia, representing the final resting place of tens of thousands of people. These range from lone graves and small family cemeteries to large church graveyards and city cemeteries. Some cemeteries have gone by different names at different times representing changing families and congregations over 150+ years. Local historians, including Alan Anderson and Jack Cox, produced extensive surveys of local cemeteries in the late-twentieth and early twenty first century. The purpose of this digital map is to make it easier for family members and descendants to find the location of historic family, church, and community cemeteries.

Please note that many small cemeteries are on private property. The Georgia Historic Preservation Division recommends getting landowner permission before crossing private property to access a cemetery:

“If you are a descendant or heir of someone buried in the cemetery, there is no specific statute that addresses right of entry to cemeteries on private property. However, case law in Georgia has been interpreted to mean that the heirs of those buried in the cemetery have an implied easement on the property. The easement gives the heirs the right to prevent disturbance to the graves and the right of ingress and egress for taking care of the burial plots. However, even descendants or heirs should ask the landowner for permission to come onto the property and discuss notification of intent to visit, the frequency of visitation, and passageway to be used.”

Please be respectful of private property and these important spaces. A good place to start for property information is the Sumter County Tax Assessor’s property search.

Key: We were unable to locate every surveyed cemetery and are more confident of the names and locations of some than others. Therefore, we have created a color scheme to indicate uncertainty.

  • Blue Pins: high degree of certainty in the name and location of a cemetery.

  • Purple Pins: medium to high degree of certainty of the name; low to medium certainty of the location. This is an approximate location.

  • Black Pins: medium to high degree certainty of the location; low certainty of the name.

Methodology: This map is a work in progress and not a finished product. The Education and Outreach Committee of the Sumter Historic Trust, led by Dr. Evan A. Kutzler, scoured multiple sources for cemeterial and geographic information: a 1910 county map, United States Geological Survey maps, the Sumter County Tax Assessor Map, a map of (white) cemeteries at the Lake Blackshear Regional Library, and a map of cemeteries at the Sumter County Probate Office. Where possible, we have linked to Alan Anderson’s cemetery surveys in the Google map.

Ongoing Work: We are still trying to determine the location of about 10% of Sumter County cemeteries. The following cemeteries have surveys on http://www.sumtercountyhistory.com/ but we have not been able to determine their location or whether they overlap with other named cemeteries:

  • Old St John's AME Church Cemetery

  • Hawkins Cemetery

  • Maxwell

  • Huguenin Cemetery

  • West cemetery

  • New Lebanon Baptist Church Cemetery

  • Dowdell Cemetery

  • Westbrook Family Cemetery

  • Davis Cemetery

  • Shiloh Cemetery

Feedback: We welcome corrections (please be mindful that we are volunteers!). At this time, we are unable to resurvey every cemetery in Sumter County, and so we do not add names to the existing surveys. If you can help us improve the accuracy of this map, please reach out to us at sumtertrust@gmail.com.