I’ve begun to build a database of names of people buried in one of the three Lane Street Project cemeteries — Rountree, Odd Fellows, and Vick. Of the 578 people identified so far, more than 80 were born enslaved. Their graves, overwhelmingly unmarked, deserve our special care and honor.

Lane Street Project invites you on June 17 to stop by our booth at Wilson Juneteenth Festival to chat with our volunteers and to pick up information about our work at Odd Fellows Cemetery and the latest developments at Vick Cemetery.

On June 19, Scarborough House Resort is sponsoring a clean-up workday at Odd Fellows. What better way to celebrate Juneteenth than helping clear the gravesites of those who greeted freedom in 1865?

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Wilson Juneteenth Festival takes place at Whirligig Park, 301 Goldsboro Street South, Wilson. Interested in helping at our tent? Contact me at lanestreetproject@gmail.com.

Odd Fellows Cemetery is at 2100 Bishop L.N. Forbes Street, Wilson. Please wear long pants, boots, and insect repellant. This will be our last big workday before Season 4 next winter. Thank you, Jen Kehrer and Scarborough House!