Emory Cared Saturday afternoon at historic Oakland Cemetery. Legions (yes, pretty much legions) of students and alumni fixed up the Georgia Historical Society's historic marker landmark that Bobby Jones 27L (golfer and Emory Law alumnus), Margaret Mitchell (author of Gone with the Wind), 25 Atlanta mayors, 6 Georgia governors and more notable greats call their final resting place.

Our massive group split into teams, and throughout the afternoon the cemetery came alive with the activity of Emory folks beautifying one of Atlanta's historic places. As part of the restoration project (Oakland was hit rather heavily by the tornado of 2008), volunteers planted vegetation like rosemary and liriope (yeah...I had to Google that name), transplanted trees, mulched, watered, made deliveries, prepped projects, and the list goes on and on.

Despite the heavy labor, being attacked by fire ants (vicious little beasts) and capturing a ghost in a photo (OK, so YOU tell me what it is), the project was a great success: we left the cemetery greener, cleaner, and mulchier (is that even a word?) than when we arrived.

The day was gorgeous--the fall sunlight elongated the shadows of the ornate graves, and with the cobble-stoned pathways breaking the horizon against a backdrop of the Atlanta skyline, well, it couldn't have been a more perfect day.

And it didn't hurt that Six Feet Under was right across the street.

Oakland Cemetery is open 365 days a year from approximately 8:00 a.m. to approximately 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

-- Cassie Young 07C, coordinator, alumni programs, EAA