A reminder — the City Manager’s recommendations to City Council concerning Vick Cemetery included this paragraph:
Yesterday, the City of Wilson posted a notice advising that City Council’s Nominating Committee will meet Thursday to discuss the organization of the Vick Cemetery Advisory Committee.
Cheers to the City as it continues to act upon its promises. I look forward to learning more about the Committee’s charge and composition.
Phase 1 of the Vick Cemetery Plan is underway.
One of New South Associates’ early recommendations was placement of markers to signal the presence and boundaries of the cemetery. The casual or unfamiliar passerby would not necessarily understand that the entire green field they see is a 113 year-old cemetery packed with more than 4200 graves. Wilson City Council voted to use state grant funds for the manufacture and installation of the markers, and that grant expires June 30. Thus, the City is moving ahead with this part of the project.
The markers will be cut from blocks of granite. The placement of the markers will be guided by New South Associates to avoid further disturbance of graves. The old granite pillars, erroneously labeled “Rountree-Vick Cemetery,” will be removed. Monument 1, the principal marker, will carry lettering visible from both directions and will be placed to the extent possible on high ground closer to the front edge of the cemetery than the current common monument. The narrower Monument 2s will be placed close to the corners of the cemetery.
They will look something like this (without, perhaps, the scrollwork):
Another heart-filling service day at Odd Fellows Cemetery!
Special thanks to our out-of-town guests Will from Fuquay-Varina and Emily and her son Seb all the way from Brooklyn, New York!
Mark your calendars now for our April 11 and 25 service dates!
Photo courtesy of Chris Facey.
March has been a fantastic month for Lane Street Project! First, we welcomed our friends from Greenfield School:
Then, Wilson City Council adopted a positive plan for Vick Cemetery’s near future, one that included the additional ground-penetrating radar we have long urged.
Please help us keep us the momentum going by coming out to Odd Fellows Saturday, March 28, at 10:00 A.M. for our next cleanup service day. Greenfield students made tremendous progress clearing dead brush and high weeds in the interior of the cemetery. We want to continue that work, which is especially important as warming weather awakens the wisteria that infests the space. We also need to mow the front section of Odd Fellows as the grass begins to green up.
A couple of hours of work by a couple of dozen people make a tremendous difference. We hope to see you Saturday!
Excerpt from “Greenfield volunteers support cemetery cleanup,” Wilson Times, 24 March 2026; photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2026.
Wilson Times, 24 March 2026.
Wilson Times, 24 March 2026.
I’m back in Wilson. My first stop is always Rest Haven to pay respects to my father. From there, Vick Cemetery is literally just around the corner.
I placed flowers on the grave of the Unknown Ancestor and made a prayer of thanks.
I turned to get back in my car and nearly stepped on this bit of marble.
It appeared to be a piece of the marble “box” that was once surrounded the Unknown Ancestor’s grave. I placed it inside the orange cones guarding the site.
There was also this a few feet away. It’s hard to see in this low-contrast image, but it’s comprised of shards of granite imbedded in concrete and is a little over a foot long. It appears to be a section of grave border, or maybe even a headstone base. I’ll alert the City in the morning.
Whew. This GPR survey can’t happen soon enough.
Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2026.
I watched tonight’s city council meeting live on Vimeo and cheered all the way through.
First, let me give a deep bow and thunderous hand-clap to all — brown, black, white — who spoke in defense of Councilmember Eduardo Herrera-Picasso and the city’s immigrant community. I applaud your brave insistence that the City respectfully address the concerns of all its residents and that your neighbors understand that Wilson belongs to all of us.
And — Council unanimously passed the Vick Cemetery proposal. The resulting first order of business is the ground-penetrating radar of the right-of-way we have been demanding for years. Results of that survey will shape our next steps.
I could not get to Wilson this week, so I asked Castonoble Hooks to read brief remarks on my behalf during the public comment period. He followed with his own trenchant remarks (that I accidentally interrupted as I recorded.) Thank you, Cass.