Day and Night: A New Hope Cemetery Update

A couple of months back, I visited New Hope Cemetery, a historically Black cemetery in Franklin, North Carolina. An estimated 41 people are buried in the cemetery, perhaps even more. As I approached the cemetery, I was met with a field of ferns, whose leaves tickled my calves and whose branches were high enough to swallow several of the taller headstones. Fieldstones, which denoted the unmarked graves, were hidden under clusters of vegetation and threatened to trip me at every step.

Out of the marked graves, the earliest burial was in 1904. However, burials likely began far earlier. The oldest documented individual in the cemetery is Jency McAfee (1835-1907). According to Josephine Greenwood Burgess (1920-2014), the last known member of New Hope Methodist Church, the last burial in the cemetery occurred in the 1940s. ¹

Horace J. Hurst, a worker who conducted cemetery surveys for the Works Progress Administration, noted that the cemetery was already in a dilapidated condition by 1940: ²

The cemetery, which was previously abandoned, was restored in 2013.³ That same year, a board of trustees was established to ensure that it was maintained after the restoration.

So much history resides in this seemingly unassuming plot of land. I was disheartened to see that the cemetery was beginning to deteriorate again.

This was what the cemetery looked like back in August:

Shortly after my visit, I reached out to multiple local individuals to see if any efforts were underway to clean up the cemetery and if not, what could be done to make it happen. I scoured resources, learning about cemetery care and preservation. If nothing was going to get done, I would come up with something myself.

Eventually, I got ahold of some county officials, who said they’d look into it. I can’t lie, I was doubtful.

A couple of weeks ago, I went back to New Hope Cemetery and noticed a remarkable difference. The vegetation in the clearing had been trimmed down and tree branches had been cleared out.

Like day and night.

It’s a promising start, but I hope that the county continues to keep the cemetery looking presentable in order to respect that the people who were buried there.

While I was learning about cemetery preservation and care, I discovered that North Carolina has a Historic Cemetery program through its Office of State Archeology. Their program aims to document all historic cemeteries in North Carolina to preserve information about these sites for “descendants, researchers, and interested North Carolinians.” They encourage both the public and archeological investigators to submit information about local historic cemeteries.

The program also provides resources and assists the public by answering their questions about cemeteries. If you are looking to care for a cemetery in North Carolina or generally want to learn more about cemetery care, I highly recommend checking out their webinars and other resources.

I’ve since submitted a “Citizen’s Cemetery Form” for New Hope. At the very least, it’ll be documented that this cemetery exists. I’m hoping it will be a step towards ensuring the cemetery stays protected. In the meantime, I’ll be keeping an eye on the cemetery and taking a deeper look into the lives of the individuals who are buried there.

1. McRae, Barbara. 2013. “Hard Work Refreshes New Hope Cemetery.” The Franklin Press, January 25, 2013.
2. Works Progress Administration. 1940. “Macon County Cemetery Survey Records.” North Carolina Digital Collections. 1940. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p15012coll1/id/30406/rec/4.
3. New Hope Cemetery Restoration Project. 2013. https://www.facebook.com/newhopecemetery/