There apparently is no end to abused and endangered historic African-American cemeteries, and I gain both wisdom and commiseration when I talk with others working to reclaim them. Yesterday, at the invitation of Shanetta Summers, I spoke with three dedicated fighters from Statesville, North Carolina, who have come together to save Stearns Temple cemetery.

Cemeteries like Stearns Temple, Odd Fellows, and Vick have many commonalities, but the differences — in land ownership, access, condition, age, etc. — pose interesting quandaries. I hope I was able to pass some useful tips and practices on to the Stearns Temple team, and I learned a couple of things from them that will be useful for Odd Fellows.

My maternal grandmother’s people are from Iredell County and, as we were wrapping up the Zoom call, Shanetta mentioned another cemetery she’s been cleaning up. It was established by an A.M.E. Zion church that was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. My ears perked up when she said “Zion Hill,” and I rushed to my genealogy blog. Sure enough, Zion Hill was the cemetery in which my grandmother’s step-great-grandmother Rebecca Colvert had been buried in 1917. It’s possible her great-grandfather, Walker Colvert, who died in 1905, was buried there, too.