Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
We set out to find a historic family cemetery in rural Georgia—and what we found broke our hearts.
The Gammage Cemetery has been almost entirely destroyed. Concrete grave markers shattered, fencing torn away, and many headstones buried beneath dirt. It appears to have been damaged during logging, but whether it was intentional or accidental, the result is the same: a sacred space lost.
This is why documentation matters. Why we do what we do. Why we don’t wait.
In this episode of the Cecil Documentary series, we don’t stop there. We continue on to investigate a historic African American church to see if a lost graveyard might have once surrounded it. The church is now abandoned and vandalized, but still listed as an active church on property tax records.
Finally, we stop at a roadside cemetery—and find 18 children buried there. It’s a sobering reminder of just how fragile these sites are, and how quickly they can vanish.
This video is part of an ongoing documentary effort to record every cemetery in Sumter County, Georgia—before more are lost forever.
If you believe in this work, please consider supporting it below. This is not just content. This is preservation.
Tip Jar: paypal.me/rwrightphotography
More Adventures: https://linktr.ee/adventuresintohistory
Flashlight Link: olightstore.com/s/UPTJSG (Save 10% with code SAIH10)
Mailing Address:
Sidestep Adventures
PO BOX 206
Waverly Hall, Georgia 31831
We set out to find a historic family cemetery in rural Georgia—and what we found broke our hearts.
The Gammage Cemetery has been almost entirely destroyed. Concrete grave markers shattered, fencing torn away, and many headstones buried beneath dirt. It appears to have been damaged during logging, but whether it was intentional or accidental, the result is the same: a sacred space lost.
This is why documentation matters. Why we do what we do. Why we don’t wait.
In this episode of the Cecil Documentary series, we don’t stop there. We continue on to investigate a historic African American church to see if a lost graveyard might have once surrounded it. The church is now abandoned and vandalized, but still listed as an active church on property tax records.
Finally, we stop at a roadside cemetery—and find 18 children buried there. It’s a sobering reminder of just how fragile these sites are, and how quickly they can vanish.
This video is part of an ongoing documentary effort to record every cemetery in Sumter County, Georgia—before more are lost forever.
If you believe in this work, please consider supporting it below. This is not just content. This is preservation.
Tip Jar: paypal.me/rwrightphotography
More Adventures: https://linktr.ee/adventuresintohistory
Flashlight Link: olightstore.com/s/UPTJSG (Save 10% with code SAIH10)
Mailing Address:
Sidestep Adventures
PO BOX 206
Waverly Hall, Georgia 31831
