Dixon Cemetery in Ben Hill County is notable, due to its large number of extant fieldstone grave markers and gravesites that incorporate commercial sculpted stone elements.
It is identified on Findagrave as Dixon Cemetery #1, to distinguish it from another Dixon Cemetery (#2) in the Queensland community. There is also a Dickson Cemetery, near Ashton.
Fieldstones and other available natural stones are among the earliest forms of grave marking throughout the world and are quite common in Georgia.
It’s less common, however, to find them in great numbers in any one cemetery and in more modern cemeteries they often get pushed over and lost among newer markers.
The markers at Dixon Cemetery are sandstone, or a similar soft stone, and therefore are most threatened by erosion. Marble and granite markers in North Georgia have a greater likelihood of long-term survival.
Since the stones lack any identifying elements of the decedents they memorialize, they present a real challenge to genealogists and family members trying to locate burials. The decedent may be associated with a particular stone from one generation to the next, but this information is usually lost to later generations.
In addition to the fieldstones, there are three other gravesites which make use of commercial sculpted stone. This stand-alone marker was probably co-opted from the coping used around the gravesite seen in the next photograph.
Though they are dependent on manufactured material, the effect is vernacular.
The “white bronze” Taylor grave marker, better known as a “zinky”, seems out of place in Dixon Cemetery, though these were sold nationally through agents of the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut and can be found throughout America. This particular example has rusted over the years.
Commercial markers are present, as well.
Of the identified burials in this cemetery (the earliest dating to 1900), there are a few more Walkers than Dixons, but I believe the earliest burials are those marked by fieldstones, which likely have a connection to the Dixon family. The Walker and Dixon families were also related.
