erosion

Lane Street Project: the City makes moves to spend the money.

There’s a lot going on in and around Vick Cemetery this week. Some of it’s breaking news, and as badly as I want to come in hot, I’m going to hold off on that a bit.

The other, though: Remember when I complained about the City’s chosen method of communication about its plans for Vick? I happened to check the City Projects page today at wilsonnc.org, and lo and behold:

UPDATE 10/15/2025

  • Letter has been sent to the Wilson Cemetery Commission noticing the city’s intended course of action. They acknowledged receipt with no issues.
  • The state (OSBM) has approved the scope of work and budget allocation for $50,000.
  • The bid for the acquisition and installation of the monuments is posted. A pre-bid meeting was held on 10/17 with bids due on 10/30/25 at 2 p.m. Link to bid: https://vrapp.vendorregistry.com/Bids/View/Bid/bba71fc3-f97b-4fc2-9800-13aa1ea2abc0
  • The scope of work for the brick walkway is underway and is expected to be posted soon. Not posted yet.
  • Green Engineering has a survey of the boundaries. We have requested that survey to be recorded with the Wilson County Register of Deeds. I’ll check to see if it’s been recorded.
  • We spoke with New South Associates about stormwater and erosion mitigation efforts. They have concurred with our plan. What is the plan? What about the State Office of Archaeology?
  • The existing erosion concerns have been addressed by mulching and hydro seeding, the new vegetation is up. In addition, staff has completed preliminary survey work and is developing a plan to divert stormwater so the ditch can be filled to create more manageable slopes. Is there a plan? Or are y’all “developing a plan”? Put an asterisk by this.
  • Vick Cemetery Project has been added to the city projects page on the website. Notice about the project was published in Wilson This Week.
  • At the direction of City Council, an interpretive sign is underway. Mayor Stevens met with Lisa Henderson to discuss the wording for the sign, which is currently under review by City Council members. I submitted draft language to Mayor Stevens on October 14. I have been advised it was approved. However, no additional action has been taken to move the project forward.

Click the bid link and here’s what you find, in pertinent part:

Keene Memorials, based in Four Oaks, was awarded the bid on 8 December 2025.

Lane Street Project: the ditch.

In just a week, the grass seed thrown by Public Works into the Vick Cemetery ditch is green and growing. Let’s hope it continues to thrive when its roots hit the sterilized soil below.

Odd Fellows Cemetery after a little Bulldog love. Thanks again!

Another view of the ditch bank at its high point.

Not a moment too soon. Here the bank has caved in.

A reminder of why we need the survey map — and need it recorded. The stake was one of the boundary markers New South Associates set.  Predictably, it — and all the other boundary stakes — fell down. The stobs once marked the head or foot of a grave detected via ground-penetrating radar. They’re lying on patch of ground scorched by Pramitol (or something similar) sprayed to try to preserve their locations.

I’ve said it before. This stretch of street is a hot mess. It’s like the backyard basketball court your Cousin Junior poured before he turned the truck in. No apparent sub-base. Thus, both the street and the patch have failed. 

A new concrete apron has been poured at the gravel utility access road that runs along Lane Park. Beyond it, no curb, no gutter until you pass Rountree Cemetery.

Interesting. Locate what?

Lane Street Project: Times coverage of the spend plan.

The Times‘ September 26 coverage of the City’s spend plan for Vick Cemetery reveals that the erosion abatement has already begun (and will be paid for out of the City’s stormwater budget.) No additional details regarding plans to “research diverting drainage” near the parking lot. Keep your eyes open, folks.

Wilson Times, 26 September 2025.

A moment to thank Wilson Times for its continuing coverage of Lane Street Project cemeteries. A Times reporter was onsite when Samuel H. Vick’s headstone was uncovered in 2020, and the paper has reported extensively on every major development since. The Times recently took home 11 awards at North Carolina Press Awards’ annual banquet. Congratulations! Support local media!

Lane Street Project: erosion at Vick Cemetery.

Two years ago, I posted video of Vick Cemetery after a heavy rain, water rushing across the cemetery’s surface into the roadside culvert. Then-new wooden plugs showed the perilous proximity of graves to the edge of the ditch. Eight months ago, I wrote about erosion of the road itself. The situation has not gotten better.

Prior to Lane Street Project’s demands for better care of Vick, the ditch was regularly allowed to become choked with weeds and sweetgum saplings. (Such as what you can now see along Odd Fellows and Rountree Cemeteries.) As the ditch lies within the public right-of-way (indeed, the ditch exists because of the city’s decision to leave open culverts along this stretch of Bishop L.N. Forbes Street), the city is responsible for its maintenance.

In late 2022 or early 2023, either the Cemetery Commission or the Public Works Department treated the ditch alongside Vick Cemetery with a hardcore defoliant, which killed every shred of vegetation and created a moonscape-like strip of land . Unfortunately, no erosion control followed and, predictably, the cemetery’s edge is further slipping away.

Senior Force member Castonoble Hooks took this photo yesterday when he and a helper were mowing Odd Fellows.

I urge you to appeal to City Council to address this situation before even more damage is done to Vick Cemetery. The ditch, the road, the driveway, the driveway marker, and the power poles have done enough.