[Riverview Memorial Park (photo by Larry Felton Johnson)]
by Larry Felton Johnson
This is a resurrected article touching on the history of Cobb County. We’ve decided to revive, and often expand, articles that were originally published when our readership was low (in this case in the 10,000 visitors per month range) now that our readership has increased almost tenfold.
A little over five years ago we published an article here about Riverview Memorial Park (also called Riverview Memorial Garden in some written records) and some of its notable residents. About a year after that on a sunny morning, I visited the cemetery again and put together the slideshow at the bottom of this article.
If you ever want to photograph the South Cobb Drive bridge over the Chattahoochee River, the hills in Riverview Memorial give a spectacular view of the highway and the bridge. In fact, the view from the hills in all directions is impressive.
A fun thing to do is identify family names in the cemetery that are also the names of roads in the area.
Notable Residents of Riverview Memorial
The previous article featured two notable residents of the cemetery. The first was the gospel singer and comedian Wendy Bagwell. The second was William Grady “Roosterman” Bagby, one of the last of the Depression-era bandits.
There was a connection between Bagwell and Bagby.
Bagwell owned a furniture store on South Cobb Drive that had a rash of burglaries. “Roosterman” Bagby and one of his brothers were suspected of those burglaries.
Now, in death, Wendy Bagwell and his adversaries the Bagby Brothers are buried very close to each other. You can listen to one of Wendy Bagwell’s most famous comedy routines on this youtube video. We’ve also published an article about Roosterman Bagby and his family here.
Where to Get Information About the Cemetery
Find-a-grave has an extensive list of people buried at the cemetery and their website states that they have photographs of 75 percent of the markers. Here is their list of cemetery residents. Since it is still an active perpetual-care cemetery you might be able to get information from the Sexton’s office, at (404) 794-5317. The address of the cemetery is 5411 S Cobb Dr. SE, Smyrna, GA 30080.
The Slideshow
Now enjoy the slideshow below.
I have been looking for a burial site for about 5 years now at this cemetery. noone knows what they are doing.
I have been looking for the gravesite of bessie johnson for about five years now, these people don’t know what they are doing, they have no customer service, they don’t want to sell any graves, they can’t answer mail or don’t know how to answer a telephone.
joshua hulsey should be terminated. he doesn’t know how to help anyone. it’s time to hire someone that has the needs of the cemetery and customers at heart.