Oakland Cemetery gets all the glory as Atlanta's premier historic burial site, but Westview (which practically butts up to I-20 on its western leg) easily gives Oakland a run for its money. For starters, it's the largest cemetery in the Southeast. When Oakland began filling up toward the end of the 19th century, Westview was created to free up space; a who's who of Atlanta notables eventually found their way here, including Henry Grady, Joel Chandler Harris, Robert Woodruff, William Hartsfield, and the like. The huge, eclectic mausoleum is worth an extra look for its ornate carvings.

Blink and you'll miss it, which is exactly what most Buckhead drivers did to the Harmony Grove Cemetery over the course of decades. It took a particularly observant local jogger to rediscover the postage stamp cemetery that's somewhat surreally located among the city's toniest addresses. Dating to at least 1870, it holds over 170 graves, most of them unmarked. Its extreme makeover garnered a 2009 Excellence in Rehabilitation Award from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Great Tornado of 2008 dealt Oakland Cemetery a powerful blow, literally. More than 100 trees and 300 markers sustained damage in the vaunted resting place; it's taken over a half decade to undo most of the damage, but for the most part the twister is history. Oakland still makes for one of the city's coolest strolls, a greenspace that's equal parts history, burial art and a million cool photo ops with the skyline as a backdrop.

Take one of the city's best examples of Queen Anne Victorian architecture. Now bury the original owner and two random Civil War soldiers in the side yard. It all adds up to the delightfully eccentric Burns Mansion in Grant Park. What's an 1868 "haunted house" without an actual ghost, or three?