‘We’re blown away by all this,’ Gregg Allman fans told at the graveside

Southern rock icon Gregg Allman was laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, with hundreds of fans gathered on a hill overlooking the gravesite.

Allman was buried just across a walkway from his older brother, Duane, and bassist Berry Oakley, all founding members of the Allman Brothers Band.

Mourners, including Allman’s wife, Shannon, and an ex-wife, Cher, attended the private burial, along with relatives, friends and musicians. A bagpiper played as Allman’s casket was carried toward burial.

Fans filled the rolling hills of the cemetery grounds, where the Allmans wrote songs among the gravestones. Many of the fans had waited hours outside the cemetery gates and were allowed entrance only after the last vehicle in the funeral procession pulled inside.

“If all I got to see was the car coming up here, it was worth paying my respects,” said Tim Quick, who recently moved from Atlanta to Perry. “They were the best thing to hit Georgia in forever — and in the world.”

Some fans snuck in earlier, including William Gambill of Warner Robins and his friends, by walking along the railroad tracks behind the cemetery.

From the graveside, most of what was said among family and friends was inaudible to media representatives gathered on a nearby hill. But one person took a microphone for a moment to thank all the fans for coming.

“We’re blown away by all this,” he said.

After saying goodbye, family and friends also stopped briefly at the graveside of the other bandmates buried there. One man took a picture. The site is the most popular stop within Rose Hill.

Fans often visit the The Big House Museum and then come to the grave site to pay their respects.

In the late 1960s when Capricorn was the band’s record label, members of the Allman Brothers Band made Macon their home.

Nearly 1,500 people were on the cemetery grounds for the service, Bibb County sheriff’s deputy Clay Williams estimated.

Many of them lingered at the cemetery long after mourners had left for a gathering at The Big House.

A wreath of white carnations rested on a walkway at a jewelry store across the street from Rose Hill, paying tribute to the legendary singer and songwriter, who died near his Savannah on May 27 at age 69.

“There’s a lot of people who come in normally who were close to Gregg,” said Bibb County sheriff’s deputy Ken Hester, who works part time at the store.

Other fans pulled in to pay their respects late into the afternoon.

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 4:04 PM with the headline "‘We’re blown away by all this,’ Gregg Allman fans told at the graveside."