We used a map of the cemetery done as an Eagle scout project back in the 1980's and a stone survey done by a Tinsley woman long before that. The church probably has a plot map somewhere in its archives, but so far has not been able to find one.
There is some discrepancy as to how many people are buried in the cemetery. The church was used as a hospital during the Civil War Battle of Bentonville. There is some documentation as to there being dead soldiers stacked along the back of the cemetery. There is also a rumor about a "little circus girl", with the John Robinson Circus, who was killed while in Greensboro and buried in the cemetery in an unmarked grave. We have not located her grave.
We are sure of 323 graves.
The photo here shows the Burnside stones that were found while probing.Emily, Hannah, and David Burnside stone's had fallen over at some point in time and become covered with 3 inches of soil. Someone, in an earlier project had placed Hannah and David's stones in concrete.
Emily's stone (top of the photo) is broken into around ten pieces and may be impossible to repair. We will see after further excavation and assessment.
Maggie Queen Fischer's stone is seen here. It was found beside a
sweet shrub bush. While excavating the stone we found that the root of the bush had grown over the stone. It had also been encased in concrete in an earlier project.
In the early days, concrete was considered a reasonable way to repair the stones. We now know that wasn't the way to go. Most of the stones in this cemetery are marble. The concrete is harder than the marble and the stone fails before the concrete, doing additional damage to the stone. It is also very difficult to remove from the stone.
We now repair the stones with a soft mortar designed to fail before the stone does and it's easier to remove.
And who knows, 80 years from now there will probably be a better way!
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