Preserving Transylvania's Burial Grounds and Cemeteries

Picturing the Past has looked at organizations that work to preserve our history and heritage during Preservation Month.  One group many people do not think of in connection with preservation is the Transylvania County Cemetery Board of Trustees.   

This Board, appointed by the Transylvania County Commissioners, is charged with identifying and protecting burial sites.  Important roles of the Cemetery Board include assessing abandoned cemeteries regularly and investigating previously unidentified or long abandoned grave sites.  They recently compiled a list of 125 cemeteries located on public, private and government property in the county.

There are 52 cemeteries on public property.  Most of them are active, meaning the property owners continue to provide maintenance and burials still occur.  Several are owned by an active church or were originally the burial grounds for a congregation that is no longer active. 

King-Old Town Cemetery on Rice St. in Brevard is one of five public cemeteries that are no longer active.  There are 54 known graves on the site dating from 1877 to 1975.  The other inactive public cemeteries are Little River-McGaha Chapel, Ray Cemetery, Shady Grove and the upper cemetery at Old Toxaway Baptist Church.  Although these cemeteries do not allow additional burials most are being cared for to some extent.

Martha  McCall, wife of Samuel McCall, was born on February 27, 1855 and
died on February 27,  1892.  A new stone was places in front of her damaged
headstone in the McCall family cemetery in the Pisgah National Forest in 1997.

There are 62 cemeteries on privately owned property, many of which contain a small number of graves of family members buried over a specific time period.  There are a few private cemeteries with 30-50 known graves.  Over half of these private sites continue to be maintained by descendants of those buried in them or the property owners.

An additional eleven cemeteries on the list are located on government land in the Pisgah National Forest, DuPont State Forest and Gorges State Park.  Most of these burial sites have only a few known graves.  The Moore family cemetery in DuPont State Forest and the McCall family cemetery in the Pisgah National Forest both have around 60-70 known graves.

These cemeteries are a vital piece of our cultural history and heritage and should be treated as such.  It is important to note that many older graves are simply marked with a fieldstone with no inscriptions and should not be moved.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.