I arrived just as the last few cowboys and cowgirls were packing up from the 36th annual Bounty Hunters Saddle Club trail ride. Sullivan Road, which dead ends in a peninsula jutting into Buckhorn Reservoir, is about as far west as you can get in Wilson County. I had not expected to wander the Kent Family Cemetery to neighs and nickers, but it was a pleasant surprise.

This active cemetery is beautifully maintained, with about 50 marked graves. A large red cedar and several old boxwoods shield the oldest burials. 

We’ve met Ned Kent — most recently here. Kent owned 159 acres near the Johnston County line north of present-day N.C. Highway 42. Per the terms of his will, two acres were set aside for a family cemetery:

The rest of his land largely remains in the hands of his descendants. 

Ned Kent Died July 22, 1940 Age 84

The headstone of son and daughter-in-law Charlie and Victoria Kent is a nice Clarence B. Best piece. 

Kent Charlie Nov. 10, 1888 Sept. 21, 1957 Victoria Sept. 5, 1892 A Devoted Father & Mother

Julia Kent Born 1877 Died Sept 8th 1951 Our Mother Little Budde Love

Mary Jane Boykin Mar. 4, 1879 Feb. 2, 1965 J.H. Boykin May 23, 1878 May 14, 1926

Lydia Kent Died Nov. 5, 1949 Age 92

Sidenote: this house is one of three that appear on the 1952 plat map of the division of Ned Kent’s property. Was it the Kents’ “home house”?

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2025.