In June 2023, New South Associates returned to Vick Cemetery to mark graves straddling two property lines with small painted wooden blocks. Though no one who’s been paying attention was surprised that graves lie astride and outside the cemetery’s modern boundaries, the little orange markers were nonetheless shocking visual proof that we still don’t know how many people lie in this public burial ground.

As we observed just a few days ago, since N.S.A. reported on their work in August, Wilson City Council spared even a glance at Vick.

Yesterday, R. Briggs Sherwood and Castonoble Hooks of Lane Street Project’s Senior Force worked in Vick Cemetery to repaint and reset faded and dislodged blocks. Thank you! The blocks were not intended to be permanent markers and inevitably have been jostled by the Cemetery Commission’s crew that regularly tends the grounds. (They are the ones who sprayed defoliant in small circles around each block to keep weeds from overrunning them.)

Cass, Briggs, and the Lane Street Project faithful have not forgotten the 4,224 who lie here. Have you?

Photos courtesy of Castonoble Hooks.