In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.

We been here.

OAKDALE CEMETERY

Also known as Oakland or Oaklawn. City-owned African-American cemetery established c. 1895. Last burial in early 1920s. Nearby Cemetery Street named for site. In 1940, city disinterred graves and moved to newly opened Rest Haven Cemetery.

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I took this photo on New Street at the opening of an alley leading to an open field at the rear of former Elvie Street School. No evidence of Oakdale Cemetery remains on the site. The cemetery’s exact boundaries have not been determined, but evidence is strong that this area was within its territory. Wilson Cemetery Commission has no maps of Oakdale Cemetery or records of its burials. Nor are there records pertaining to the disinterment of bodies from Oakdale and reburial in Rest Haven. Read more about this forgotten burial ground here and here and here and here and here.