Kennesaw City Cemetery preserves the names behind familiar streets

Image: AI-generated illustrative photograph of archival materials; not an image of a grave or an authentic Kennesaw historical record.

Street names can become so familiar that their origins disappear. Kennesaw City Cemetery offers a way back to some of those personal stories, linking the present community with families, workers and civic figures from earlier generations.

The Kennesaw Cemetery Preservation Foundation says the earliest known burial dates to 1863, when the railroad community was still called Big Shanty. It identifies the infant Lucius Summers with the family remembered in Summers Street and traces the cemetery’s later growth through land acquired for the town in 1900 and subsequent additions.

The foundation’s account also describes residents such as James G. Lewis, an early mayor and local banking figure whose name survives in Lewis Street. These connections make a history visit more than a survey of dates: they can help explain how people’s lives remain visible in the modern map.

Read the foundation’s history before going and bring one specific question to explore. Follow current access rules, respect mourners and active services, and leave stones and objects untouched. For cleaning or preservation work, seek instructions from the responsible organization; a well-intended attempt to improve a marker can damage the material or obscure the record.

Sources and visit details

• Kennesaw Cemetery Preservation Foundation: cemetery history