Last summer, I was so caught up in awe and amazement at Rocky Mount’s support of Union Cemetery that I completely missed this.

On 27 June 2023, Rocky Mount’s Historic Preservation Commission presented to city council a request to designate as a Local Historic Landmark a small city-owned African-American cemetery active from about 1915 to about 1981. The overgrown cemetery contains, among others, graves of several prominent African-Americans, including W. Lee Person and Charles H. Darden‘s brother Peter Darden. The packet submitted in support of the request is top-tier, starting with the declaration in “I. General Information” that “one goal of this application is to recover history that has been largely erased.” The history and significance of Displaced Cemetery are then set out in detailed context.

I have included here the text portions of the packet. For more, see here. It is not clear to me whether the City of Rocky Mount accepted the recommendation. The Commission’s website appears to need updating and does not list the Displaced Cemetery among the City’s Local Historic Landmarks.