Morehead Plot Complete

When the paint dried, the plastic covering was removed from the headstones and monuments, the holes where the posts were dug out was backfilled with soil and leveled.........










the inside of the plot was leveled and all the rocks and roots removed,.....













and the Morehead plot was complete and awaiting plantings to come in the landscaping phase of the project.

Fence Painting

Once the paint was stripped and the fence prepped, the stones and monuments were covered in plastic and it was time to paint.










Danny Thomas of Thomas Painting is shown here spraying the fence.

It was painted with a process called "Electrostatic Painting" where an electric charge is applied to the fence. When painted, the fence actually "attracts" the paint and there is very little waste and overspray.





Shown here again is the corner of the fence where the big stump was.

It's really hard to believe what this section of fence looked like a few months ago without being here to actually see it.

Hats off to everyone who took part.

GOOD JOB!!!

Raising and Leveling the Fence

Seegars Fence Company from Greensboro, N.C. was contracted to do the raising, leveling, repair, and painting of the fence.

Bobby and his crew did an outstanding job.

Here the crew is shown raising the fence.






A fence panel awaits attachment to the poles.

Notice the head and foot stones of Mr. and Mrs. Morehead, which were raised and leveled.







Reattaching a broken panel to the pole.












This is the corner where the large Oak tree grew around the fence.

Notice all the rusted area. A few months ago it was all covered by tree stump.

I never thought we would get to this point when I first saw it.

This was a welcomed sight.

Paint removal and painting will come next.

Fence Excavation

In this photo, the fence panels and the poles have been excavated to aid in raising and leveling the fence. While we wait on the fence company, we are going to remove the Dogwood tree that is growing around the gate and raise, level, and repair the William R. Walker bedstead.

Removing The Fence Panels

Here, Steve is removing the final pieces of the stump in order to remove the fence panel.

There is no easy way to do this since the stump is intertwined with the fence. Pieces have to be chisled out being very careful not to damage the fence.

While Steve is working on the fence panels, James is inside the plot working on the stump with a small stump grinder.

It's been a long, hard road but both panels of the fence have been removed.

Now we can continue with the stump grinder and concentrate on removing the pole.

Once the pole is removed, we can excavate the other fence panels and poles, and get ready to raise and level the fence.

Freeing The Fence

After several months and a lot of hard work, the fence is almost free of the stump.

The fence post in this photo was completely encased by the stump along with much of the two fence panels.

Saws, hammers, and chisels were used to reduce the stump to what you see here.







There is still a ways to go but we are on the right track.

Once the panels are free, we can focus our efforts on removing the pole.











As you can see here, there is still quite a bit of stump left before the panels can be removed.

The problem will be getting the pole loose from whatever stump is left underground.

The Morehead Plot

The Morehead plot is a 10 ft. x 38 ft. fenced enclosure that contains four graves.

John Motley Morehead (July 4, 1796-Aug. 27, 1866) Governor of North Carolina from 1841-1845, his wife Ann Eliza Morehead (Oct. 14, 1804-July 29, 1868), William R. Walker (July 14, 1813-April 2, 1855), and James Turner Morehead (1838-1919) Col. 53 Regt. NC Troops, one of the Original Guilford Greys.

This plot also contains one of the largest monuments in the cemetery.

The head and foot stones of the Governor and his wife have sunken due to the large amount of water washing through the cemetery from the roof of the museum (old church building), and moving soil around. They will need to be raised and leveled.

William Walker's bedstead has also sunk and one of the bedstead side rails is broken. The bedstead will be raised, leveled, and the side rail repaired.

The fence has two gates that are inoperable. One because of the Dogwood tree in this photo that has been allowed to grow around the fence. The tree will be removed and both gates repaired.

The bottom rail of the fence is underground and numerous sections of the fence are loose. The fence will be raised 5 to 6", leveled, squared, and reattached.

Once this is done, the paint will be stripped from the fence, it will be sanded where needed, and it will be repainted with a rust prohibitive electrostatic paint.

As you can see here, the real challenge on the Northeast corner of the fence will be to get it out of this stump. The stump has one fence pole completely encased in it. Two fence panels are also embedded as you can see one sticking out in the photo.

We are determined to get it out and get the fence back the way it's supposed to be.