Bruce Green is right.

The historical preservationist told members of the Valdosta Heritage Foundation last week that Sunset Hill Cemetery is a treasure. 

Sometimes it is difficult to see the forest for the trees. 

In the same ways the old City Cemetery in McDonough and Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta have become destination points, Sunset Hill is a perfect opportunity to preserve history, tell the stories of our past, provide educational projects, scriptwriting experience and history studies for Valdosta State University students, while promoting tourism in our community. 

Oakland may be Georgia’s most significant cemetery. 

Margaret Mitchell is buried there.

Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first black mayor, golfing legend Bobby Jones and six Georgia governors were all laid to rest in the serene sanctuary less than a mile from bustling downtown Atlanta.

Oakland blends a holy place with awe-inspiring architecture, sculpture and botanical gardens beneath a canopy of majestic oaks and magnolia trees.

A walking tour of Oakland Cemetery is like a walk through time, strolling through Atlanta — and American — history. 

The cemetery opened in 1850 and is a tourist destination, poplar site for weddings and community events and home to the Historic Oakland Foundation that offers tours and festivals throughout the year.

Scores of visitors flock to the cemetery, taking guided tours, strolling with a self-guided tour map, sketching or taking photographs every weekend. 

Oakland is, essentially, an open-air museum, and Mitchell’s gravesite one of its masterpieces. 

Oakland is not just the final resting place of the rich and famous. 

There are paupers graves, burial plots for slaves and markers for soldiers who lost their lives during the War Between the States — 6,900 Confederate soldiers are buried at Oakland. 

Whether it is the potter’s field or the gardens surrounding an opulent Greek Revival mausoleum, the grounds are immaculate and rival any botanical garden. 

Ranging from Victorian to Greek Revival, Gothic, Neo-classical and even Egyptian, the mausoleums are themselves works of art.

Statues and elaborate urns dot the sprawling cemetery, with inscriptions ranging from humorous to curious to poetic and inspiring.

At Oakland, everywhere you turn is a story ready to be told, a photograph waiting to be captured or painting ready for the canvas.

Oakland hosts several events throughout the year including History, Mystery & Mayhem, when you can hear the stories that defy explanation and eerie events that have passed into local legend, from mysterious burials to deaths occurring under peculiar circumstances.

In February, the City of Atlanta hosts guided African-American history walking tours at Historic Oakland Cemetery.

During the annual Oakland Halloween Tours, Atlanta’s sons and daughters tell their stories as visitors flock to the massive graveyard. 

Then, there is the Spirits of McDonough at the old City Cemetery, south of Atlanta.

Residents dress up and tell the stories of the area’s historic figures, staying in first person and creating enchanting evenings. It has become a multi-day event that is a favorite must see in metro Atlanta. 

Something similar has been done here in the past, but reviving and expanding events, plays, guided tours and reenactments at Sunset Hill would make perfect sense.

For the reluctant, such events are in no way disrespecting the deceased. It celebrates their lives. 

The potential for Sunset Hill Cemetery is vast and it could be yet another opportunity to build synergy between our university and our city.