cemetery cleanup

Lane Street Project: if you’re new to this.

A Google search unexpectedly yielded this pretty accurate AI summary of Lane Street Project:

The Lane Street Project is a community-driven conservation collective in Wilson, North Carolina, dedicated to recovering, documenting, and restoring three historic, neglected African-American cemeteries: Odd Fellows Cemetery (est. circa 1900), Rountree Cemetery (est. circa 1906), and Vick Cemetery (est. 1913). [1, 2, 3]

Founded in 2020 by local historian Lisa Y. Henderson, the initiative has transformed these long-abandoned spaces into recognized, sacred historic sites. [1, 2]

📜 The Tragic History & Reclamation

The Vick Cemetery Mystery: Vick Cemetery served as a public burial ground for Black residents until it was condemned in the mid-1950s. Following decades of city neglect, the Wilson City Council voted in 1994 to clear the property, resulting in the complete removal and destruction of all existing tombstones. They replaced them with a single central monument. [1, 2]
Uncovering the Truth: In response to pressure from the Lane Street Project, the city conducted a ground-penetrating radar survey. The survey revealed 4,224 underground graves—nearly triple what was originally estimated—lying just beneath the surface without their original markers. [1, 2]
Remembered & Restored: In October 2026, the project successfully advocated for the placement of comprehensive interpretive signage and permanent granite boundary markers to officially honor the thousands of ancestors resting at Vick Cemetery. [1]

🛠️ Volunteer & Preservation Efforts

The project organizes an active, multi-generational corps of volunteers during its cleanup seasons: [1]

Physical Restoration: Clearing decades of overgrown brush, invasive wisteria, fallen limbs, and dumped trash to reveal lost headstones. [1]
Historical Mapping: Formally registering the cemeteries with the North Carolina State Office of Archaeology and charting their boundaries on Google Maps. [1]
Genealogy & Archiving: Compiling comprehensive public databases of known and probable burials from death certificates and extant grave markers, as well as preserving records dating back to the 1760s. [1, 2]

To better support long-term research, funding, and maintenance, the collective established a formal 501(c)(3) non-profit called the Friends of Lane Street Project. [1]

If you want to support or participate, I can find information on:

How to join an upcoming Season 7 volunteer service day

Where to follow their community event schedules and updates

How to view their burial databases for genealogical research

Let me know what you would like to explore next!

Actually, let me know!

Lane Street Project: the Season 7 clean-up schedule is out!

Great things are happening at Vick Cemetery — now help us prepare Odd Fellows Cemetery for its glow-up!

Who do we want? You — and your friends, family, classmates, sorors and frat brothers, lodge members, church organizations, youth groups, alumni organizations, coworkers and colleagues, and students. All are welcome.

To do what? Clear debris from small felled trees, cut vines, chop weeds, cut grass, clean headstones, chart grave GPS coordinates, donate funds for ongoing and future projects (including ground-penetrating radar, an interpretive sign, professional defoliation services, and headstone stabilization), say prayers for safety and success, document.

What do I need to do? Please read last year’s What To Expect. (Conditions have changed a bit, for the better, but it’s still a useful guide.) We have had volunteers ranging from toddlers to seasoned seniors over the past six seasons. We welcome all to contribute as they are able, but please be aware that there are safety risks associated with clean-up of a forested space. So far, no one has been injured while working in Odd Fellows, and we want to keep it that way. You will be required to sign a waiver. Wear appropriate shoes, long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and gloves. Watch out for holes in the ground. Do not attempt to cut down trees. Do not lean on, push, or pull grave markers.

Got it. Now what? Gather your team, and let us know you’re coming! Our past partners have included Greenfield School, Barton College, Saint Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sororities, Homeschoolers Honoring Ancestors, Wilson Police Department and Fire/Rescue Services, and Mount Hebron Lodge No. 42. We’ve also welcomed folks from Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, Richmond, Brooklyn, and elsewhere who have been drawn to our mission to reclaim this sacred space. We hope you’ll join us!!

Lane Street Project: Odd Fellows is clean as a chitlin! Thank you!

We’re in a season of giving, and I’m so very grateful to those who choose to share their blessings with Lane Street Project.

October started with the monthly donation my sister and brother-in-law send. I deeply appreciate their tangible commitment to this work.

Yesterday, Odd Fellows got a big chop deep into the wood line, courtesy of the generosity of John Kirk Barnes of The Kirk’s Florist and Casey Elliott of Casey Elliott Attorney at Law. Thanks to them, Odd Fellows will be presentable when we celebrate Vick Cemetery next door on October 17.

And today, the Senior Force hosted two shifts of Barton College students who chose to spend their Day of Service clearing brush at Odd Fellows. Barton has been a partner for four years, and we are thrilled by the students’ interest — and strong arms!

I’ll be sharing the Season 7 clean-up schedule soon. Please support us!

Video of Monday’s interior cutting courtesy of Tracey Briscoe Barnes. Thank you!

Lane Street Project: summer maintenance.

Donations allow us to pay to keep the front section of Odd Fellows Cemetery looking good through the summer months, when sunshine and rain send weeds into overdrive.

Friends of Lane Street Project is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. To help us continue our work, please consider making a donation via Zelle at friendsoflsp — thank you!

Lane Street Project: Ben Mincey’s cleanup work revisited.

Another gift from the Joneses: the aluminum offset printing plates for the 18 February 1989 edition of the Wilson Daily Times, which featured Ben Mincey‘s work to honor his parents at Odd Fellows Cemetery.

On closer look, I see that the photo below was taken in Vick Cemetery. Though the City later was struck by amnesia, the sign clearly states that the property was overseen (if not actually cared for) by “The City of Wilson Cemetery Commission.”

This photo was taken in Odd Fellows, but a very different-looking Odd Fellows than today. The two tall grave markers at center left are those of Della Hines Barnes and Dave Barnes. You’ll notice that, while today they stand in the open, they were then surrounded by trees. A car is visible inside the tree line, likely parked on one of the paths that were used to dump trash in the cemetery.

Below, Ben Mincey stands closer to what is now the Vick Cemetery parking lot (the Barnes markers behind him.) In the foreground, a large flanged metal pipe. In the back, Henry Tart‘s tilting monument.

The work of cemetery citizens.

Listen to this NPR story on our cemetery citizen counterparts in Connecticut here. (Shoutout to Adam Rosenblatt!)

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A lot of people may spend Saturday mornings snacking with friends or running errands – or joining us here. But some head to a different location – a neglected cemetery. Meg Dalton reports from one cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, where volunteers are trying to breathe new life into this space.

SHERILL BALDWIN: Hi.

LAURA LYNN: Hi.

BALDWIN: Are you here for the cleanup?

LYNN: I am.

BALDWIN: If you want to just park so that we’re not blocking, that would be great.

LYNN: OK.

MEG DALTON: Sherill Baldwin walks down a leafy hill. Before her are rows and rows of white stones sticking out of the ground, about the size of a sheet of paper.

BALDWIN: I refer to them as, like, baby teeth because they are not coming in straight, necessarily.

DALTON: Those baby teeth are actually gravestones in a small potter’s field called Blake Street Cemetery.

BALDWIN: It’s where poor people were buried when they couldn’t afford it themselves.

DALTON: The cemetery is small, about an acre. The gravestones are obscured by long grass, overgrown weeds, fallen trees and a lot of trash.

BALDWIN: So I have bags and sticks for picking up things.

DALTON: This morning, Baldwin and two other regular volunteers are here for a litter cleanup at the cemetery.

BALDWIN: And I think the place to start is probably – maybe around the fence line, if you don’t see anything in the side…

GIULIA GAMBALE: OK.

BALDWIN: … And then along sort of the wooded area.

DALTON: Giulia Gambale has a bag in one hand and a trash grabber in the other.

GAMBALE: What is this? Triscuit? Oreo? Trident. See, they like having fresh breath, but just, you know, pick up after yourself.

DALTON: Gambale walks over to the side of the cemetery and spots something unexpected.

GAMBALE: Looks like somebody’s homework is over here (laughter). Little bit of homework. That goes in the bag. What else?

(SOUNDBITE OF UNDERGROWTH RUSTLING)

GAMBALE: I don’t know what this is.

(SOUNDBITE OF UNDERGROWTH RUSTLING)

GAMBALE: More homework?

DALTON: Another volunteer, Laura Lynn, already has a full trash bag.

LYNN: I found a lot of candy wrappers, potato chip bag wrappers, a empty bottle, an empty can, piece of glass that I just picked up.

DALTON: Today, they’re mostly picking up small pieces of trash. But at past litter cleanups, they found air conditioners, even tires. Neglected cemeteries like this one are common in many parts of the United States. But people like Lynn, Gambale and Baldwin are trying to bring new life back to these spaces.

They’re part of a growing social movement of so-called cemetery citizens. That’s a term coined by Adam Rosenblatt. He’s an anthropologist and author of a book about cemetery citizens. According to him, cemetery citizens are people working to restore and honor systemically neglected cemeteries. Some volunteers do this work for personal reasons, like Gambale.

GAMBALE: My dad actually worked in a cemetery for, like, his whole life. And I just, like, learned to really love and respect cemeteries – the history, the architecture.

DALTON: Baldwin says every person’s motivations are unique, but they have a shared goal – to reinsert these spaces into the social fabric.

BALDWIN: You know, everybody’s got different things and different ways of honoring those that have passed. Cemeteries are definitely sacred places.

DALTON: Baldwin hopes Blake Street Cemetery becomes a place not only for the dead but for the living.

For NPR News, I’m Meg Dalton in New Haven, Connecticut.

SIMON: And thanks to Luis de Leon (ph) for recording bird song for that story.

(SOUNDBITE OF J^P^N’S “PRIDEFULL”) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Lane Street Project: the season’s last service day.

The workday’s shoutouts:

to the veterans who visited Odd Fellows Cemetery Saturday morning to place flags for Memorial Day;
to Will Kinsler, who came back with friends Haley of Fayetteville and Savannah and Dustin of greater Raleigh. They spent a full shift hacking new wisteria from trees and clearing the tree line to aid our mowing efforts; and
to the inimitable Senior Force — Castonoble Hooks, R. Briggs Sherwood, and William Hooks — our foot soldiers month in and month out.

Finally, a resounding thank you to everyone who came out to help this season. Each of you made a tremendous difference in the reclamation of Odd Fellows Cemetery, and we are honored that you chose to spend a Saturday morning with us when you could have been doing anything else.

Big things are coming, and we hope you’ll continue to support us as we put the generous gifts we’ve received to work. Though our official cleanup season has ended, we may call on you for specially scheduled service days this summer or fall related to upcoming projects. Thanks again!

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2026.

Lane Street Project: thank you, P.L. Woodard & Co./Womble Hardware!

They say a closed mouth don’t get fed.

Tuesday I asked for help cutting Odd Fellows Cemetery’s front section, as our well-used lawnmower recently died and the grass is shin-deep. Within hours, I received a call. P.L. Woodard and Company/Womble Hardware, Wilson’s 125+ year-old downtown hardware emporium, was offering to donate a brand-new mower!

Yesterday morning, Senior Force leaders Briggs Sherwood and Castonoble Hooks picked up our gift. With it, we will be able to keep Odd Fellows presentable during the fecund summer months when our cleanups are on hiatus, but weeds leap skyward under hot sun and rain.

We are grateful for the generosity of Jimmy Miller at Woodard/Womble, as well as those who facilitated this connection, and are greatly encouraged by this concrete show of deep community support. Friends of Lane Street Project is excited about this new phase of our journey to reclaim East Wilson’s historic African-American cemeteries, and we invite you to travel with us. Also: support local business!

Help comes to Hamilton Burial Garden.

Hamilton Burial Garden is in crisis, but last week, the community came together to give the cemetery a Mother’s Day cleanup. Special thanks to Greg Willingham and Brandon Head of Saving Stones Headstone Restoration and Preservation for leading the way.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2026.

Lane Street Project: a grass-cutting appeal.

Oh! Look! Odd Fellows Cemetery awash in dandelions! Lovely, isn’t it?

Well. Not really.

Odd Fellows is a graveyard. Not a meadow. It’s overgrown. And our lawnmower has conked out. Until Friends of Lane Street Project (FoLSP) raises funds for a new one, won’t you consider stopping by to mow the front? Our last cleanup of the season in Saturday, May 23, but you can come whenever convenient.

Thank you!