awareness is preservation

Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery in Troutman, NC, 2025

When I'm at festivals or outreach events, I get a lot of questions about why I do what I do. I think the one I get asked the most is, "What exactly is cemetery preservation?" My immediate answer is "awareness." How can you preserve something if you don't know it exists?

I once watched a webinar on archival practices and it was called "Good, Better, Best." Every institution is different, and depending on the budget one might be working with, determines which practices can be used. The webinar instructor taught that while the "best" options are industry standard, most repositories are only able to provide "good" or maybe "better" care of their archival collections. The same principle applies to cemetery preservation.

Best case scenario:

• A landowner knows he has a cemetery on his property and has cleared brush and debris from around the stones.

• He makes sure the cemetery is easy to get to and puts signs up on the main road so people know where to look for the cemetery.

• Landowner installs a chain link fence around the cemetery to keep livestock and people away from the stones.

• He regularly trims the grass around the stones.

• He either learns how to clean the headstones or hires someone to come out every other year to do so.

• Landowner deeded off the cemetery separately, reported its GPS coordinates to his state archeology office and has mentioned in his will that the cemetery is to be perpetually cared for upon his death by whatever organization or individual he has arranged with.

While all of that sounds like a taphophile's dream come true, it rarely works out that way. Most of the time, cemetery preservation falls into the "better" category of care:

• A landowner knows a cemetery is on his property, knows where it is, but doesn't have enough time or money to care for it properly.

• Landowner puts up "no trespassing" signs around the property in order to deter potential vandals.

• He installs a very simple wire fence around the perimeter of the cemetery using wooden posts which will eventually deteriorate and need to be replaced.

• The cemetery becomes overgrown, but relatively safe.

• Landowner allows visitors to the cemetery whenever they request access.

Every once in a while, you find yourself in a "good" or even "poor" case scenario:

• Landowners don't know about the cemetery, or they know and don't care.

• Willing neglect of the cemetery.

• Minimal care, if any.

• "No trespassing" signs and maybe even threatening signage around the property.

• Hesitant when someone requests access to the cemetery or downright refuses access.

• Doesn't want to talk about the cemetery.

I have experienced all of those situations. The purpose of today's blog post is to remind everyone to talk about the cemeteries they know about while also tooting the horn of the folks up in western North Carolina. Y'all know what you're doing with cemetery preservation.

This past weekend, my family and I stayed in a barndominium (a barn that had been renovated to serve as a comfy Air B&B) in Wilkes County. For those of you who don't know, Wilkes County is HUGE. I didn't even know we were staying in Wilkes when we booked the location. I thought we were in Watauga or Caldwell. We were close to Ferguson and we had a beautiful view of the mountains from the porch. I'm a mountain girl and that's my favorite place to be.

While driving some of the back roads (many of which are unpaved), we passed several family cemeteries. Unfortunately, I was not the driver and my request to visit said cemeteries was outvoted, but anyway, we passed them. One I could see from the road. The others I only knew they were there because of signs on the main road. I was shocked! That's not a thing in Iredell or Alexander Counties, although I wish it were!

(L-R) Hatton-Hendrix Cemetery (photo by Brent Martin, 2025), Woods Cemetery (photo by Carol J Kennedy, 2008), and Hendrix-Hall Cemetery (photo by Laura Shew, 2011)

All three of the above mentioned cemeteries are within a few miles of one another. The oldest is the Hendrix-Hall Cemetery. The Hendrix patriarch, Darby Hendrix, died in 1836 and is presumed to be buried here, although there is no marker. Darby Hendrix was a slaveholder and relatively well-known man of the community, because this area is called Darby. The Hatton-Hendrix Cemetery is not far away and is an African American burial ground. It is possible, and very likely, that the ancestors of the people buried here were once enslaved to the ancestors of those buried at Hendrix-Hall. These two cemeteries are connected by a shared history that is being preserved by both current landowners.

I was interested when I looked up these cemeteries on Find A Grave and discovered that the earliest known grave at Hatton-Hendrix was from 1939. But the newly erected granite memorial says it was established in 1900. It wouldn't surprise me that 39 years worth of burials took place there and the families could not afford stones. It would be great if some of the descendants could get together and have a GPR survey done on the property to see how burials there actually are.

One final note about my mini vacation is that the natural landscape in this area and much of the surrounding areas was significantly altered by Hurricane Helene last year. I am in awe of the resilience of the people living in these communities. Please continue to pray for western North Carolina and their ongoing recovery. Thank you to all those landowners who care about history and the cemeteries on their properties. And thank you, the reader, as always for caring.