A self-proclaimed historian from Macon, Edwin Atkins, has begun an online Facebook protest called “Baldwin County Milledgeville Waterpark: Yes or No?” against Baldwin County’s upcoming Aquatic Center regarding graves that may be on-site in Walter B. Williams Park, where the old state prison once was.
Atkins has been actively working on the preservation of the Red Hill Cemetery, located near the site. The state granted Atkins a license to help preserve and identify graves in the cemetery. According to his statements to the Baldwin County Board of Commissioners on June 20, through a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey, they have located over 650 graves in the cemetery and identified from death certificates 451 graves. Atkins further stated that the majority of these graves are of African American prisoners leaving a question of where the white prisoners may have been buried.
In “History of Georgia Prison System 2007” by Larry Findlay, it states that 2,500 deaths occurred. In a news clipping of 1936, the prison superintendent says 1,500 deaths, so where are all these graves?” Atkins asked in his speech to the Board of Commissioners.
In an interview with The Baldwin Bulletin, Atkins states that he feels it his “due diligence” to determine if there are graves on-site since the land was once owned by the state and has a personal connection to him. Atkins’ great-grandfather was the chaplain at the Georgia State Prison and was personally involved with the lives lost in the prison.
“My family was originally from Milledgeville and my grandfather was chaplain for 14 years. He was the one who buried them off and the one who was standing beside 144 men who were electrocuted there. So, I have his notes about these men who died and a lot of his sermons that were preached to these lives lost. So it’s a personal thing,” said Atkins.
Atkins had a career in motion picture production and, according to County Manager Carlos Tobar, approached the county in March of 2018 to film a documentary of the Old State Prison. Atkins was allowed to film onsite but not allowed inside the prison due to the unsafe nature of the building. Tobar said the filming occurred as the county was “in the process of performing its due diligence to tear down the prison.”
“The building, according to the Historical Building Condition Assessment Report (HBCA), was hazardous. So, I was there to ensure everyone was safe and assisted him with the film production,” wrote Tobar in an email to The Baldwin Bulletin.
According to Tobar, Atkins also requested that the county donate the building to him and stated he could raise the money to ensure it met safety standards.
“After reviewing the HBCA report, I knew it was infeasible for him to raise $5.2 million to stabilize the building,” wrote Tobar. “That does not include the millions it would cost to make it into a decent building. Additionally, the county could not just donate a building to someone.”
So, Tobar states that the county continued the process to tear down the building and did it in a cost-effective manner using a “publicprivate partnership.” The contractor tore down the building and kept the bricks and the county used inmate labor and its road department to perform the remaining clean up.
Atkins believes the ground left behind is still considered “hallowed and sacred” and should be preserved and honored. In his request to the Board of Commissioners, Atkins expressed part of his protest goal is to ensure that the prison and any lives lost inside are honored correctly and memorialized.
“I’m objecting to the center based on the site’s history and because at least 1,500 people died near this site,” Atkins told The Baldwin Bulletin.
“Our cadaver dogs have alerted to potential graves along the fence line that would be inside the fence but the county won’t allow our dogs onsite to do any further investigation.”
Kerri Gebler, the handler of one of the cadaver dogs, stated that her dog explored the perimeter of the site, outside of facility grounds. They alerted in the area of the Pecan Grove and the Aquatic Center, from outside the fence line.
“They were alerting outside the fence for significant human remains inside the fence. Our dogs are only trained to sniff out human remains and will not alert us to anything else. All of our dogs have been certified through the National Association for Search and Rescue, so the standards are very strict for cadaver dogs,” said Gebler.
The dogs alert human remains based on the odor. Whether buried, in water, et cetera and despite age, the odor will still rise for them to alert.
“My dog was not behaving any differently at the border of the site for the Aquatic Center as he had at our other sites. We have what is called trained final response and it was consistent throughout the search,” said Gebler.
Despite Atkin’s concerns, Tobar reassures that graves are “very unlikely” to be present on-site. The Aquatic Center has had environmental clearance for two years to be built and reports of any archaeological findings are required to be made to the state. As standard practice, the contractor selected will be familiar with the process on federal-aid projects and will be in charge of the GPR scan.
“The county is not going to perform the task, like allowing cadaver dogs on the site, as Atkins requests. Frankly, allowing cadaver dogs on the site would just create a circus,” wrote Tobar. “The dogs don’t even know where we are going to excavate. All that needs to be done will be laid out first by the contractor and then the contractor will do his due diligence as required by state law.”
Tobar also emphasized that they are required to submit videos and photos to the State Office of Historic Preservation of the Old State Prison along with the HBCA report. The county plans to memorialize the site, having saved the cornerstone of the Old State Prison, and are looking at a historical marker as well.
“Regarding graves, it is highly unlikely there are graves or bones buried there. There is a cemetery behind the Recreation Department that was used to bury inmates. So long as the land is undisturbed, there is no concern about buried bones,” said Tobar. “And the county is actively working to ensure the history of the site is memorialized in the Aquatic Center.”