Exploring ‘Widow’s Walks’ And More Of Oakland Cemetery Tour

Wendy Parker • Apr 9, 2015

This photo taken Dec. 20, 2013 shows the entrance to the historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. Some of the most famous residents are Margaret Mitchell and golf legend Bobby Jones, as well as rows and rows of Confederate soldiers. You can do a self-guided tour at any time, or guided overview tours and special topic twilight tours are available every weekend between mid-March and mid-October. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Credit David Goldman / Associated Press

Artist Grace Thornton explains “The Widow's Walk” she'll be conducting during The Cryptophonic Tour.

This week on “City Lights,” Atlanta artists with installations in the upcoming Cryptophonic Tour at Oakland Cemetery previewed their work.

Among the artists is Atlanta-area native Grace Thornton, who will step back in time with her own “Widow’s Walk.”

She’ll walk around the cemetery for the entirety of the May 2 sound tour, dressed in a veil and black clothing and singing mourning songs. It’s a recreation of a routine observed by hundreds of thousands of Confederate women who lost their husbands in the war.

“I will be this person out of time and place … I’ll be a wandering woman,” Thornton said.Meredith Kooi talks about her tribute to the unknown buried at Oakland Cemetery.

In another part of cemetery, an artist has worked to honor those buried in unmarked graves in the Potter’s Field area.

Artist Meredith Kooi will be creating what she calls an “anti-monument memorial” she wants to be “visually very minimal but sonically very powerful.”

Tickets for The Cryptophonic Tour can be purchased at Atlanta PlanIt.