North Carolina Group Aims to Record African American Graves
By Associated Press
Wire Service Content
March 9, 2020, at 12:01 a.m.
BY JEFF HAMPTON, THE Virginian-Pilot
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) — Leon Saunders Jr. walked through a large graveyard behind Corinth Baptist Church to three separate markers made from a cypress tree, each standing less than a foot high.
“When I was a child they were maybe two feet tall,” said the 74-year-old native of Jarvisburg.
There’s no telling who’s buried under the weathered pieces of wood. At one time, a cedar shingle nailed to the markers named the deceased, but it’s gone.
The cemetery of about 200 graves is part of an effort by the Currituck County Historical Society to record every African American grave that can be found. If the grave has no marker, then maybe church records or death certificates can identify the occupant.
Many of the cemeteries have been lost over the decades to farms, road construction or neglect.
The project could take up to five years. When complete, the society will publish a book as a companion to another book finished in 1995 that lists graves of white cemeteries in Currituck County, said local historian Barbara Snowden, president of the group.
“This is a real commitment,” Snowden said. “This will be a great genealogy tool and a great asset to Currituck County.”
The book on white cemeteries, done by the Albemarle Genealogical Society, took years to finish, Snowden said. The group started with grave lists recorded by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s.
The researchers identified cemeteries and recorded the wording of each gravestone. They knocked on doors and followed leads like detectives. They trekked through thick woods and miles of fields in many cases to find even single gravestones. Often, the engraved lettering was worn and almost illegible. The researchers would place paper over the stone and rub it with a pencil to get a clearer rendition of the markings.
The work to find African American graves will be just as tough, said Dorothy Johnson, a Currituck native who chairs the committee in charge of the project.
“We’ll start simple,” Johnson said.
Using volunteers, Johnson will first contact the roughly one dozen black churches in the county. Church cemeteries are most prominent and easiest to identify.
Then will come the more difficult task of finding small, private graveyards.
A beloved black educator in Currituck County was Oscar Frost who died more than 30 years ago. He graduated from Columbia University before returning to teach. His gravestone sits far out in a field in Maple with one other stone, Snowden said. The cemetery project will make sure his grave is not lost and forgotten, she said.
Graves were once marked with such items as shoes, a favorite coffee mug or a pair of glasses, said Melissa Timo, archaeologist and historic cemetery specialist with the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology. But personal items, like the cypress markers, soon deteriorate.
“It’s possible that the only people who know about them are descendants,” Timo said. “An aunt may know who was buried there, but when she passes, no one will know.”
The state is encouraging communities statewide to record African American cemeteries. It provides a form as a guide that asks such questions as the cemetery’s location, size, condition and owner, and whether it is threatened.
Currituck County is one the few taking it on countywide, Timo said.
“It’s a grassroots effort we hope will spread,” she said.
Saunders’ mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, great grandparents and an assortment of aunts, uncles and cousins are buried behind Corinth Baptist Church. They have granite markers on them.
Some of the oldest graves date back into the late 1800s. Many markers have fallen over.
Capt. Benjamin Bowser, who led the all-black Pea Island U.S. Lifesaving Station, might be the most famous person buried here.
The cypress pieces at least show someone was buried there. Many spaces have no markers. Saunders remembers one grave marked with the axle of a wagon wheel. It rusted away long ago.
Recording these graves is as important to family as it is to the state and county, Saunders said. He is grateful to live nearby and be able to visit the graves of his loved ones, he said.
“Sometimes I come out here and view the graves,” he said. “It brings back happy memories.”
Wire Service Content
March 9, 2020, at 12:01 a.m.
BY JEFF HAMPTON, THE Virginian-Pilot
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) — Leon Saunders Jr. walked through a large graveyard behind Corinth Baptist Church to three separate markers made from a cypress tree, each standing less than a foot high.
“When I was a child they were maybe two feet tall,” said the 74-year-old native of Jarvisburg.
There’s no telling who’s buried under the weathered pieces of wood. At one time, a cedar shingle nailed to the markers named the deceased, but it’s gone.
The cemetery of about 200 graves is part of an effort by the Currituck County Historical Society to record every African American grave that can be found. If the grave has no marker, then maybe church records or death certificates can identify the occupant.
Many of the cemeteries have been lost over the decades to farms, road construction or neglect.
The project could take up to five years. When complete, the society will publish a book as a companion to another book finished in 1995 that lists graves of white cemeteries in Currituck County, said local historian Barbara Snowden, president of the group.
“This is a real commitment,” Snowden said. “This will be a great genealogy tool and a great asset to Currituck County.”
The book on white cemeteries, done by the Albemarle Genealogical Society, took years to finish, Snowden said. The group started with grave lists recorded by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s.
The researchers identified cemeteries and recorded the wording of each gravestone. They knocked on doors and followed leads like detectives. They trekked through thick woods and miles of fields in many cases to find even single gravestones. Often, the engraved lettering was worn and almost illegible. The researchers would place paper over the stone and rub it with a pencil to get a clearer rendition of the markings.
The work to find African American graves will be just as tough, said Dorothy Johnson, a Currituck native who chairs the committee in charge of the project.
“We’ll start simple,” Johnson said.
Using volunteers, Johnson will first contact the roughly one dozen black churches in the county. Church cemeteries are most prominent and easiest to identify.
Then will come the more difficult task of finding small, private graveyards.
A beloved black educator in Currituck County was Oscar Frost who died more than 30 years ago. He graduated from Columbia University before returning to teach. His gravestone sits far out in a field in Maple with one other stone, Snowden said. The cemetery project will make sure his grave is not lost and forgotten, she said.
Graves were once marked with such items as shoes, a favorite coffee mug or a pair of glasses, said Melissa Timo, archaeologist and historic cemetery specialist with the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology. But personal items, like the cypress markers, soon deteriorate.
“It’s possible that the only people who know about them are descendants,” Timo said. “An aunt may know who was buried there, but when she passes, no one will know.”
The state is encouraging communities statewide to record African American cemeteries. It provides a form as a guide that asks such questions as the cemetery’s location, size, condition and owner, and whether it is threatened.
Currituck County is one the few taking it on countywide, Timo said.
“It’s a grassroots effort we hope will spread,” she said.
Saunders’ mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, great grandparents and an assortment of aunts, uncles and cousins are buried behind Corinth Baptist Church. They have granite markers on them.
Some of the oldest graves date back into the late 1800s. Many markers have fallen over.
Capt. Benjamin Bowser, who led the all-black Pea Island U.S. Lifesaving Station, might be the most famous person buried here.
The cypress pieces at least show someone was buried there. Many spaces have no markers. Saunders remembers one grave marked with the axle of a wagon wheel. It rusted away long ago.
Recording these graves is as important to family as it is to the state and county, Saunders said. He is grateful to live nearby and be able to visit the graves of his loved ones, he said.
“Sometimes I come out here and view the graves,” he said. “It brings back happy memories.”
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