Historic Norcross City Cemetery

Historic Norcross City Cemetery. Circa 1870. Local landowner Milton C. Lively donated the land in the central part of today's cemetery for a burial ground around the time the city was established in 1870 and the road connecting it to the town became known as Cemetery Street., At one time, there were two streets leading from town to the cemetery, which were known as North Cemetery Street and South Cemetery Street; however, this changed over time. When Buford Highway was built in the 1930s and expanded in the following years, the streets running to the cemetery were modified so that South Cemetery Street stopped at Buford Highway. It was renamed Carlyle Street, after the eponymous family, many of whom lived in the town and then later were buried here. The portion of North Cemetery Street west of Buford Highway was renamed Holcomb Bridge Road circa 2012., In 1916, the city purchased an additional nine acres of the land surrounding the cemetery from M.C. Lively's descendants and used part of that land to expand the cemetery to its current size of 3.52 acres. The remaining 6 acres were converted into what is now called Cemetery Field for sporting events, early in the 1970s, by local community leaders. In 1986, Gwinnett County did a major renovation to bring the field and stadium up to code., The pavilion at the entrance to the cemetery was erected by the townspeople in 1922. The fence and gates were added in 2015 as part of a major renovation project, undertaken by the Norcross Public Works Department.