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All the United States Georgia Blue Ridge The Arm of Buel Stanley

The Arm of Buel Stanley

Turns out fishing with dynamite isn't all that safe.

Blue Ridge, Georgia

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velellavelella
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Marker for Buel’s arm, generously donated by one of his relatives   velellavelella / Atlas Obscura User
Marker for Buel’s arm, generously donated by one of his relatives   velellavelella / Atlas Obscura User
Civil War-era grave of the first people buried in the cemetery   velellavelella / Atlas Obscura User
Road sign showing where to turn for the church   velellavelella / Atlas Obscura User
Historical information available at the site   velellavelella / Atlas Obscura User
DIY headstone   mp2 / Atlas Obscura User
Cemetery grounds   mp2 / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Most of Adolphus Buel Stanley is buried with his wife, Froney, at Macedonia Church of Christ. His good arm, however, met a premature end after he tried using dynamite to catch fish en masse in the Toccoa River. The deceased appendage finds eternal rest a few miles down the road from Buel himself.

Nestled in the mountains of rural northern Georgia, the Stanley Settlement cemetery holds a treasure trove of Fannin County history. It spills down the hill from Stanley Church of Christ, a white wooden structure in the style ubiquitous to Appalachia. The building, which also served as a schoolhouse, began its life as a Primitive Baptist church. After a Church of Christ minister beat a Baptist minister in a battle to spout more scripture, the church switched denominations, taking the whole valley with it.

The ill-fated arm is far from the only interesting thing interred there. Buel’s father, Elisha Stanely, shares the site's first grave with Elv Evan Hughes. The brothers-in-law were murdered for resisting conscription into the Confederate army and buried in one hole because there were no menfolk left to help the women dig. Elsewhere is a marker for Mose Johnson, who was found and taken in by the Stanleys as a child and went on to become the first Black person to be educated in Fannin County.

Though not all are as outlandish as a dynamite-induced amputation, each grave in the cemetery tells stories— stories of the people who called the valley home and helped shape the Stanley Settlement into what it is today.

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Fishing Severed Limbs Cemeteries Gravestones

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The cemetery is on Harrison and Ada Road, off Aska Road. Buel’s arm is at the bottom of the hill among some of the oldest graves.

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velellavelella

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mp2

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Published

January 5, 2022

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Sources
  • https://www.hrcga.org/church/stanley-church/
  • https://www.gcgsi.org/Research/ChurchHistory/StanleyChurchofChrist.pdf
The Arm of Buel Stanley
250 Harrison and Ada Rd
Blue Ridge, Georgia, 30513
United States
34.798448, -84.281329
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