Spearheaded by unofficial local law enforcement historian Chad White, a group of volunteers recently finishing cleaning Eberhardt Cemetery in Hall County and restoring headstones there.
“First and foremost, I want to thank each volunteer who participated in this project,” White writes in a Facebook post reflecting on the work that was done. “Without each one of them, it would have been impossible to complete this work. Special thanks to the Eberhart descendants who were present…”
Among the headstones that was clean and reattached is former Hall County Sheriff Jacob Eberhart’s. White says it was reset to its original position, as it was in 1870. “The headstone had been lying flat, with part of it buried beneath the ground for an unknown number of years. We achieved this by constructing a slotted concrete base to which we secured the headstone, restoring it to its upright position.” Mike Huckaby and David Miller worked on finding Eberhardt’s headstone “carefully probing” the area to locate it.
In addition, White said, “we installed 40 white crosses, which former Flowery Branch Police Chief Gerald Lanich cut, notched, and painted himself. He even attached a smaller cross to the center of each larger one, going above and beyond to ensure that every unmarked grave was honored.
“The work that Marty Lee and Gerald Lanich did on the unmarked graves was impeccable. They uncovered fieldstones buried beneath the surface, some of which bore names and had been placed in the wrong locations.”
Sheriff Eberhart served as a deputy sheriff and justice of the peace in Hall County for several years. In 1818, he became one of the first court officers in the county, serving various terms from 1822 to 1824, 1830 to 1832, 1834, and 1836. Retired Gainesville Police Officer Ricky Rich is a direct descendant of Eberhart and his brother, John Eberhart, who also served as sheriff.
White added that Mike Henry, a descendant of the Eberhart family, provided a detailed map of the cemetery and the identification of the graves was originally carried out by Ms. Mary Elizabeth Eberhart in 1931.