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250    FIKE'S CHAPEL [J45.1]

Location - Hickory Mountain Township. 0.23 mile north of Pleasant Hill Church Road; 0.18 mile East of Rising Ridge Road; access between 166 and 226 Rising Ridge Road. Access doesn't go all the way.

Coordinates: 35d 41m 53.0s N; 79d 18m 16.0s W Click here for Online Maps

Owner: Kathy Lee Jucker, Trustee.
Legal Description: Parcel 81202, 1.428 acres; Plat 2004/94; DB B-W/538, 26 May 1888 from HH, Della & Thos. Fike to Trustees of AME church -- Moses Fike, James Stedman, Sam or James Rives.
Topo Quadrant: Siler City NE Code J.
Church owned: Yes. Denomination: AME.
Abandoned: Yes.
Number of graves: 100+.
Cemetery size: 1 acre.
African-American: Yes.
Restricted access: Yes. Private Property, difficult access
Overgrown and easy to identify: Yes.
Enclosed: No.
Markers: Yes.
Number of readable markers: 0.
Markers damaged: Yes.
Other damage explanation: Timbering and treefall.
Hazards: Neglect.
Listed: Yes.
Listed explanation: Gravesites of Chatham County.

Significant events: Mr. Fike's grandfather, James Buddy Fike cared for cemetery when Henry Fike a child. Patricia and Michael Kellogg lived in area as children in late 1950s. Said old wooden grave markers were present then. Church had hole in roof, but standing, with pews in place and programs on floor -- so must have been recently used. Mr. Fike provided names of families buried here. More in file.

Miscellaneous information: Shown to cemetery/ church lot by Henry Fike (of Liberty) who owns adjacent lot that was Fike's colored school lot. Church and school destroyed in late 1960s - early 1970s by logging. Gravestones damaged/ destroyed then too.

Last canvassed by: Jane Pyle, Bev Wiggins, Henry Fike. Date: 21 Nov 2008.

In November 2008, Mr. Henry Fike showed Bev Wiggins and Jane Pyle the cemetery. No inscribed gravestone markers were found, but there were clear indications of more than 100 burial sites, some with fieldstone markers, in the approx. 1 acre cemetery. The cemetery shares the church lot granted to trustees of the AME church (Moses Fike, James Stedman and Samor James Rives) in 1888 by H.H., Della and Thomas Fike (Deed B-W/538). Patricia and Michael Kellogg report that the church was still standing and appeared to have been used in recent years when they lived in the area as children in the late 1950s. Mr. Fike reported that loggers destroyed the church and adjacent school building, damaging or destroying many grave markers, in the late 1960s-early 1970s. He believes that the following family names are represented in the graveyard: Fike, Brooks, Goldston, Rives, Marsh, Pugh, Dorset, Glover, Williams, and de Graffenreidt. His great-grandparents, Peter and Betty Watson Fike, and his grandparents, James Buddy and Dallie Fike are buried here, but there are no legible markers.

1. Fike, Betty   (b. Unknown - d. Unknown)
wife of Peter Fike. (no inscription on stone - info from Henry Fike)
2. Fike, Dallie   (b. Unknown - d. Unknown)
wife of James Buddy Fike. (no inscription on stone - info from Henry Fike)
3. Fike, Henry   (b. Unknown - d. Unknown)
Footstone.
4. Fike, James B. (Buddy)   (b. 1897 - d. Oct 1979)
Age 82 years, 9 months. Husband of Dallie Fike. (no inscription on stone - info from Henry Fike)
5. Fike, Jerry   (b. 2 Jun 1880 - d. 13 Mar 1946)
Age 65. [from death certificate: b. 2 Jun 1880; husband of Stella Reaves; son of Sam Fike; buried Fike's Chapel]
6. Fike, Peter   (b. Unknown - d. Unknown)
husband of Betty Fike. (no inscription on stone - info from Henry Fike)
7. Goldston, Hannah   (b. May 1855 - d. 10 Jul 1939)
Age 84 years, 2 months. Wife of Bose (Boston) Goldston. G.J. Griffin & Son funeral home marker. (no inscription on stone - info from Barbara Pugh's earlier survey)