Nonprofit Pushes to Protect Historic Black Cemetery Near Massive Data Center Project in Henry County

Source for Efaye Lloyd’s “no survey” quote, the Georgia Power “more permanent barrier”/access-point offer, and a city-manager statement on working with preservation advocates. Note: this outlet’s city-manager attribution conflicts with an AJC piece naming a different person in the same role — unresolved as of filing, so the essay does not name the city manager directly.

Additional detail confirmed 2026-07-28 (approval-brief correction pass): this article attributes the term “transfer station” to Hampton City Manager Alex Cohilas, not to Georgia Power: “He said the property immediately behind the cemetery is where Georgia Power is building a new transfer station.” It also states the nonprofit Honor Thy Roots “discovered the site within the last two weeks” (not that any remaining church members already knew), and describes those buried at O’Neal as “African Americans born before, during and after the Civil War.” An earlier essay draft asserted a specific caste/status claim about the founding congregation that is not supported anywhere in this record; that claim has been removed from the essay and should not be reintroduced or reconstructed from this note.