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Posted on 01/26/2005 11:08:23 AM PST by Constitution Day
Confederate group, blacks to clean up cemetery
The Associated Press
January 26, 2005 2:03 pm
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. -- Descendants of slaves will work along with men of Confederate ancestry to clean up an overgrown cemetery where the oldest graves belong to free blacks buried before the Civil War.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans Walt Bryson Camp 70 began visiting old family and church cemeteries in Henderson County in an effort to find Confederate veterans. They soon discovered many of the historic cemeteries were endangered by development and neglect.
Some had houses built on top of them and others were plowed under in fields.
Louis Dunbar, who represents blacks on the county Cemetery Advisory Committee, also discovered that Mill Pond Cemetery was in bad shape and asked for some help.
The upper section of the cemetery is well maintained, but the lower section is covered in 7-foot-tall pampas grass, small trees, stumps and fallen logs.
"These cemeteries need preserved out of respect and for their historical value," Dunbar said. "There has been too much disrespect of the grave sites in this county."
Whites and blacks are buried in the lower portion of the cemetery, said James Miller, whose ancestors deeded the land for a church and cemetery in 1859. That section of the cemetery was open to paupers for free burials, he said.
The oldest graves apparently belong to blacks.
Ellen Jones, who died in 1812, and Markus Henry, who died in 1865, are listed in early census reports as free blacks. James Harren, also buried in the lower section, was one of three men deeded land by Noble Johnson to establish a school in Colored District No. 4 in 1875, only 10 years after the end of the Civil War.
"We know there was a community of free blacks who lived in that area," said Evelyn Jones with the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society. "But not much else about them."
The tall, thick grass is growing so fast that it is encroaching on the upper section of the cemetery. The grave marker of Edgar A. Lamb, 1890-1962, was found hidden in the grass.
Norman Miller of the Sons of Confederate Veterans said the cleanup will take hours of work with many volunteers wielding machetes, bush axes and swing blades to clear out the grass.
During a cleanup about five years ago, the grass at the cemetery was burned.
"I can understand why they burned it," Norman Miller said. "But I don't feel comfortable with that myself. It will blacken the stones and we need to decipher every stone we possibly can."
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
Dixie ping!
Thanks, that was quick!
You pinged your list before I could even ping you.
The South - "...land where my fathers died......"
Gee, there's nothing like blacks and descendants of Confederates doing something constructive together to cause some folks to try to stir the pot. No wonder race relations remain so tense and touchy.
What's your point? Or are you just trying to disrupt my thread?
this is excellent! I'm doing research on my ancestors which includes research on the black side of "my family" .... meaning slaves and free people of color who took my ancestors' names or inherited the names and were willed land and homes. Alot of this history took place near Henderson. I'd be interested in the outcome.
Incidently, I am working with several black people who come from the same family line. Although this is a sensitive subject, there are those of us brave enough or open minded enough to work together without offending each other.
Are you a Delta Blues fan?
Ping for later.
The "race pimps" and MSM will ignore this, bigtime.
This is cool and all, no doubt, and very interesting, but when all is said and done its just neighborhoods working together to clean up a historical site.
Lets not make make it into propaganda. Do you think that is what the locals want?
ping
Thanks for the post and the ping.
This is very cool, and I thought a few
more folks would be interested.
Reading so many positive posts is a
nice change of pace. ;o)
"The South is a shared culture and there is no getting around it. Delta Blues, fried okra, Chickamauga, Juneteenth, Confederate Memorial Day, Rosa Parks, etc, etc, etc are all part of the whole. And I love it."
Me, too, Arkinsaw...me, too.
"Follow the money."
Hey, NJ. Ferget, hell!
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