Unlocated or Lost Cemeteries or
Cemeteries with Poorly Described Locations
in the Orange County Cemetery Survey
Compiled by Milton Forsyth
Following is a transcription of scattered notes relating to the search for cemeteries in the 1970s. These notes do not appear to connect to any cemetery listed in the survey in 2003, when they were transcribed by Milton Forsyth. There were other notes on cemeteries that were connected to a listed cemetery and were incorporated into the cemetery descriptions where appropriate. The original notes will be found in the cemetery survey folders.
The second listing is of a number of cemeteries in the survey that today are difficult or perhaps impossible to locate. This is because the location description relates to places, buildings or person's homes or property that existed in the 1970s but are no longer identifiable, or the description was/is just not adequate to locate the cemetery.
Comment: If one can get near to the described location, sometimes local residents know about the cemetery by having come across it while exploring the area. So if searching for a "lost" cemetery, it is always wise, where possible, to ask about it in the neighborhood.
There is ample opportunity for detective work available here for any dedicated cemetery researcher. Should any of the cemeteries in either category be located - whether from this transcribed notes list or from the survey list - please provide the location to Allen Dew and the cemetery listing will be updated. GPS coordinates will be much appreciated, but an address such as the postal address of the property along with clear directions on the property itself is always an alternative. A volunteer can then go to the location and obtain the GPS coordinates.
Items in brackets [comment] in the transcribed notes are the transcriber's comments.
Transcribed Notes from the Cemetery Survey Folders
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Cemetery Notes from Mrs. Doak
Southern Orange
Estes Hills Cem. - Blackwell-Purefoy - (moved when school was built) See former School Board member. [See next for related note]
Blackwell-Purefoy Cem. - on site of Estes Hills School. Blacks. This cemetery removed; prob. only a few Purefoys there. (where to?)
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Chapel Hill Cemetery Lost - Whitaker Cem.
Cem. on N. Graham St. (gone)
Inform. from Roger Foushee to B. Doak
house there now occupied formerly by white fam. of Whitakers - Whitaker Cem. - now owned by Burneste (Wade family) - in 200 bk. - find Arthur Lee Foushee - Ask Tom Rose about it - House built over Whitaker cemetery site.
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2nd Stroud Cem on Antioch Road near house of Mr. I. G. (-----) in wooded area near house
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Cemetery at Spring Valley Lake (from Mr. R. H. Hill) Not Found
Turn off #70 (East) [Route US 70 East] opposite golf course on Lawrence Road. Cemetery must be in area back of Palmer Grove Church.
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Individual Graves and Small Cemeteries Lost in 1974
Unident. Black graves in a hog pen on the north side of SR #1500 [SR is "Secondary Road"]. Pen built over graves about 1952 by Eric (?) McCullogh who in 1974 lives in frame house on opposite side of road. (Infor. from Mrs. McCullogh and Joe Hensley).
Corn fam. cem. (black) - just north of Mrs. Sue Burton's brick house on Hwy. #86 [probably OLD Hwy 86]. (Infor. from Joe Hensley).
Grave (unident.) under pine tree - 2-story hose on #86 south of Sue Burtons.
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Notes from Joe Hensley, near Prospect Hill
1) and 2) [drawing of locations given in Corn Family Cemetery and Unidentified Grave above listed] [DRAWN MAP - Map-02]
3) Go to forks -- Malones -- right above it - in a woodland field back of tobacco barns..OK
4) Go to next house by [unreadable] - colored people - unknown -- between house and in hog-pen - big rocks - several graves [perhaps refers to previous listing above regarding the hog pen burials]
5) To Prospect Hill -- on right - 1 acre in field - a large slave cem.
6) Go up #49 [State Route 49; NW corner Orange County] - this side of Carr -- may be Jeffreys -- dead end road - black cem. at end of it?
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To be Done &/or Found
old Cem. near Mrs. Wad Womble who lives near Willie Snipes on Smith Level Rd (this may be one of the 3 on Smith Level Rd.) [See Snipes house cemetery reference below]
Cheek-Jones Cem near Buckhorn
Graves at end of Bluffs of-Eno Road (M. Nygard told me) [the late Margaret Nygard]
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Hutchins Crossing
Graves beside railroad (infor. from Daniel L. Sherk, Eubanks Rd.)
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Cemeteries Mentioned by Mr. Price
OK - 3 cem. beyond Mt. Hermon Church - school; turn to left.
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Thomas Redding Cem.
Behind John Link home on Pleasant Green Rd. Right hand side of road; John Link works at Western Electric Co.; lives in brick house. Several graves there; Redding has a marked stone. Before one gets to Mt. Gilead. (Infor. from Alonzo B. Coleman, Sr.)
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[Part of a list of "Cemeteries to Find," some of which were located, but these possibly not]
Graves on W. Tryon St.; past school; past 3rd house [this suggests there were some graves on a lot beyond the present Whitted Human Services Complex/Orange County Public Library site]
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[Cemeteries behind Snipes house]
Smith Level Rd. - just above Cole Cem. (2 cem. behind Snipes house) [DRAWN MAP - Map-04]
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[Cemetery in "Egypt"]. [DRAWN MAP with newspaper article - Map-05]
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[Page of notes on James Dickey Cemetery - unlocated - apparently on SR 1548] [IMAGE - Note-01]
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Sunnyside Cemetery - Mentioned in notes but not identified and not found.
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Cemeteries Without Adequate Location Descriptions
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#101 - Link Slave Cemetery: The description refers to buildings and person's houses, and needs to be refined if the cemetery can be located.
#133 - Hester-Warren Cemetery - Black And White: No location is given for this cemetery.
#176 - Pope, 'Bash' Cemetery: No location; no burials. Possibly could be located by a land search for the owner mentioned in the description.
#182 - Reding, W. W. Family Cemetery: This is a classic "chicken house, bridge, field, sawmill" location description. Perhaps research into deeds or records to determine where the person named in the description lived would aid in locating the cemetery.
#189 - Scarlett Family Cemetery: Directions relate to someone's home in the 1970s, and if located need to be updated with street address and GPS coordinates.
#194 - Stanford-Strowd Family: This cemetery has no location information and apparently was not found. Perhaps a search of records would lead to something.
#201 - Sykes Family Cemetery (No. 2): The location is unclear, but leads to the general area.
#219 - Bivins Family Cemetery: Location description all related to mid-70s property owners.
#236 - Corbett Ridge Road Cemetery [Unidentified]: The location is obscure, and a search would be difficult (if not impossible).
#249 - Kenyon Family Cemetery [?]: This is one of the mystery cemeteries, in addition to having an obscure location description. It was said that nothing remains, but perhaps a cemetery site can be located.
#260 - Unidentified Cemetery - South Side Nc Rte 54: There is minimal location description information for this cemetery, but possibly enough to make a search worthwhile.
#264 - Wright Family Cemetery - White: This cemetery is described as located in woods across a field. The location is not very specific, and it might be very difficult to find.
#266 - Miles Family Cemetery: The location is somewhat obscure, and in 1980 when a search was made no cemetery was found.
Last revised 5 November 2010
