The poignant image of a mother and her son leaving the Marietta Confederate Cemetery will exist for generations to come.

A bronze statue was unveiled Sunday at the wagon road entry from Brown Park into the Marietta Confederate Cemetery.

Mayor Steve Tumlin, former Councilwoman Betty Hunter and seven-year-old Henry Sinclair, Councilman Johnny Sinclair’s nephew who modeled for the statue, unveiled the creation.

"It will serve as a beacon for everyone who comes by that the cemetery is here."

The statue was placed leading into the cemetery to give people a visual as they are thinking about the more than 3,000 soldiers buried there, City Manager Bill Bruton said. Furthermore the statue can be seen from Powder Springs Street and will be lit up at night. The statue is meant to draw people into the cemetery.

"It will serve as a beacon for everyone who comes by that the cemetery is here," Bruton said.

There is also a reason that the statue is not elevated. "We want you to interact with it; we want this to be something you feel and have a relationship with," Bruton said.

Visitors are encouraged to stand with the statue, takes pictures with it and put their hands on it, Bruton said.

Sculptors T.J. Dixon and James Nelson, who created the Mother and Child statue, also did the statue of Mattie Harris Lyon in the Marietta City Cemetery and various bronze pieces, such as a shovel and umbrella, located on benches throughout the cemetery and Brown Park.

"We said let's do something that's an interactive tour that people can experience all on their own and enjoy with their family," Bruton explained the statues throughout the cemeteries.

Cemetery tours with local actors, community leaders and historians portraying several of the people who are buried in the cemetery followed the dedication.

Next year a statue of three women, Jane Glover, Mary Green and a woman to represent all the women who have worked to maintain the cemetery, will be added.