![]() The 2010 survey focused on identifying unmarked graves within a portion of Section B, one of the historically African American sections of the cemetery. ![]() Preservation Chapel Hill worked with Environmental Services, Inc., to complete archaeological surveys of the cemetery in 2010, 2012, and 2013. In 1999, the Black Student Movement at UNC lobbied for repairs to the headstones in the African American sections, as well as better acknowledgement of those buried there through the erection of a monument. The un-inscribed stones used to mark graves have also been used to help repair the stone walls that divide and enclose the cemetery. In the recent past, the western area of the cemetery, Sections A and B, was used as parking for visitors attending the 1985 football game against Clemson. The African American section of the cemetery has experienced several instances of vandalism, due in part to the issue with headstones lacking inscriptions and therefore not being recognized as graves. Some of the better known individuals buried in the white section of the cemetery include Joseph Caldwell, Nancy Hilliard, the proprietor of the Eagle Hotel, and Cornelia Phillips Spencer, among many others. There are also enclosures used by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies for their member students. The white section of the cemetery houses burials of prominent Chapel Hill residents including faculty and staff of the University. Others include Wilson Swain Caldwell, a slave of the prominent Caldwell family George Barbee, one of the oldest graves in the section and Dilsey Craig, an enslaved person belonging to the Phillips family. Some of the known African American burials include those of freedwoman Nellie Strowd Strayhorn, who with her husband was able to successfully build a home and live in Chapel Hill during Reconstruction, a time of intense racial violence. Later graves belong to freedmen who may have worked at the University. Most of those buried in this section were either slaves or University laborers, while others were the slaves of faculty members or other Chapel Hill residents. Because of this, many of the stones, not recognized as grave markers, have been removed or relocated, leaving these sections with many unidentified graves. The burials in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery are generally well known, however, burials in the African American parts of the cemetery were often marked only by a field stone, rather than a headstone with an inscription. The Old Chapel Hill Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is currently owned and maintained by the Town of Chapel Hill. The first recorded burial there is that of student George Clarke, who died on September 26, 1798, but most burials in this section are from the 19 th century. Section I is the oldest white section of the cemetery. ![]() Ellington Burnett, who died in 1853, is the earliest known burial in the African American section of the cemetery. However, after the Civil War, Section A was added. The section designated for burials of African Americans was initially Section B. The cemetery was segregated by race, with Sections A and B serving as the African American part of the cemetery. The rock wall around the cemetery was built in 1835.Ībout 1,600 burials are located in the cemetery, which is divided into six sections, A-B and I-IV. It was originally used for interment of university students who died during their time at UNC. The Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, originally called the College Graveyard, is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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