A forgotten century-old cemetery discovered in North Carolina. Who were they?
Union County is finishing restoring a more than century-old cemetery with 169 graves discovered near Monroe last year.
Residents of the former Union County Home, which cared for the elderly and ill, were buried in the cemetery, according to a recent county news release. Such government-run homes were sometimes referred to as “Poor Houses,” according to the Carolinas Genealogical Society.
Poorhouses dated to 17th-century England, the idea being that municipalities must care for people unable to care for themselves, according to History.com.
The cemetery lies in the Rocky River Estates neighborhood about five miles west of downtown Monroe, on South Rocky River Road just south of Weddington Road.
To honor the dead, county leaders immediately ordered that the overgrown, debris-choked cemetery be restored. They did so after learning the county owned the one-acre property.
It’s unclear how long the cemetery was left unmaintained.
“These residents were the responsibility of Union County many years ago, and their remains are our responsibility today,” County Manager Mark Watson said in a statement.
“We are committed to restoring the beauty of this sacred land,” Watson said. “And it is important for all of our residents, young and old, to explore the rich, fascinating history of this area.”
The graves are about 110 years old, according to the county.
The cemetery has several unmarked graves and a few with stone markers that lack names and dates. Headstones were available only if privately purchased, officials said.
The County Home operated through the early 1900s, until it became the Walter Bickett School, according to the county. Before a new County Home was built on New Town Road in 1911, officials said, residents of the previous home who died were buried in the recently discovered cemetery.
The exact number of graves is still unknown, but it’s believed to be 169 or so, officials said.
In September, the county hired a mapping service that uses ground-penetrating radar to find unmarked burial sites.
County workers spent months clearing and restoring the land and identifying graves. County staff will maintain the cemetery and place a fence around the area.
Restoration should wrap up by around June, officials said.
Few records exist of the County Home locations and cemeteries where their residents were buried, officials said.
Online resources, however, identify the names and burial locations of many of the deceased, according to the county.
Some of the residents’ names and other information about them appear on FindaGrave.com.
The county website, UnionCountync.gov, provides additional information and historical context about the homes via the Carolinas Genealogical Society.
This story was originally published January 7, 2023 at 12:39 PM with the headline "A forgotten century-old cemetery discovered in North Carolina. Who were they?."