Odd Fellows cemetery
Lane Street Project: see you at this month’s service days!
Lane Street Project: next service day — March 28!
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.
Lane Street Project: at Odd Fellows, next steps loading.
Vicki M. Cowan shared these snapshots of her mother Monte Vick Cowan and uncle Robert E. Vick visiting Odd Fellows Cemetery on a winter afternoon, perhaps in the 1990s.
In the first image, they stand beside the marble ledger tablet that covers the grave of their mother Annie M. Washington Vick. Rountree Cemetery is behind them.
Below, Robert E. Vick standing in Odd Fellows with the Dawson and Tate headstones rear left.
The families of the Lane Street cemeteries never forgot their dead. Never abandoned them. Distance, or age, or responsibilities to the living may have kept them from coming to lay flowers or from fighting nature’s relentless threats, and time is the thief of memory, but never abandoned. We knew our people were here, even if we didn’t know how best to reclaim them.
Lane Street Project will soon announce new initiatives to expand our care for the dead of Odd Fellows Cemetery. We’re excited about the possibilities for improving conditions in this cemetery, and count on your continued support.
Thank you, Vicki Cowan!
Lane Street Project: I didn’t think I was shockable anymore, but here we are.
Driving into Wilson with a grin on my face, and POW! — “A Wilson man has been charged after admitting to digging up a grave at Vick Cemetery….”
You can read the sorry details here.
I immediately called Castonoble Hooks and diverted to the cemetery. The alleged perpetrator unearthed a corner of a burial vault in a grave at the edge of the ditch, but it has been recovered, and the earth tamped back down. While we were there, Public Works pulled up to shovel dirt over the remnants of the marble markers dislodged back in December. I was too shaken to even question why, but will find out.
Lane Street Project: February 21 service day.
Weather permitting, we will wrap up our Black History Month service days on February 21, same time, same place!
Lane Street Project: council talking points, 19 February 2026 edition.
Vick Cemetery’s not on the February 19 Agenda, but that doesn’t stop you from speaking out in the audience comment portion of Thursday’s city council meeting. The impassioned remarks of a few of Lane Street Project’s descendant community and allies snatched the attention of council and the Wilson Times last month. Two weeks later, after a rambunctious discussion, four council members stood ten toes down to restore the public broadcast of the citizens’ comments portion of council meetings. Your voice matters, and now it can be heard by folks who can’t physically attend meetings.
If you’re thinking about speaking tomorrow, here are a few questions you might ask:
- what is the status of interpretive signage at Vick Cemetery? Has the draft language been approved?
- when will the plat map of Vick Cemetery be recorded with Register of Deeds?
- will the damage done to Odd Fellows Cemetery — specifically the removal of soil under the kerbing around the Tate family plot — be repaired?
- why was the City using heavy equipment to clearcut the north side of Rountree Cemetery?
I was going to add “why hasn’t the Vick Cemetery city project page been updated since 15 October 2025?,” but I double-checked and, lo and behold, there’s been activity. The original October 15 update has been modified slightly, and this has been added (in January? I’m pretty sure February, but I quibble):
Finally:
- We want ground-penetrating radar of the public right-of-way.
Lane Street Project: MLK Day of Service 2026 was amazing!
Lane Street Project continues to reinforce connections and build bridges across all kinds of gaps, one armload of sticks at a time. Despite yesterday’s cold, both new and veteran volunteers showed up to chip away at this year’s mound of tasks, mixing fresh energy and seasoned experience.
Said Derrick Ruffin of his interaction with Castonoble Hooks, Briggs Sherwood, and Dr. Judy Wellington Rashid, “I was given life twice today, and I’m so thankful to have been a part of this community event.”
Cass Hooks: “Today was historic, poetic, prophetic on so many levels! You had to be there to fully understand scope and depth of today’s meeting. Dr. Rashid is truly a blessing of insight and a wealth of knowledge that she so humbly shares to the benefit of all who listen. Honored to be a part of her team in this important work. We all made discovery through conversations that revealed connections that are truly remarkable! We all came to realization that our coming together is no accident! I am sure we will write our individual narratives; my belief is God showed us today we are in the right place at the right time! Dr. Rashid lead us into powerful prayer that was both inspiring and direct! God is with us! Our theme, “We care!,” on the fence in bold letters thanks to Jen Kehrer. We continue to fight the good fight! Our ancestors matter, we are the proof. Just begun to fight and that’s the truth! My name is Castonoble — the skinny, nappy-head kid from Ashe Street! The boy who never quit. Stopped school early, but never stopped learning. Armed with truths, lies now burning. Save our cemeteries!”
Our next clean-up days are during Black History Month, February 7 and 21. We’ll be focusing on clearing the floor of the woods as much as possible, chopping everything except daffodils and yucca. There’s a large section of tall, rough, dry weeds in the center of the cemetery that needs to be hacked down, as well as the area behind the Vick plot. Please consider joining us. All are welcome!
Lane Street Project: the next council meeting.
Today is the 35th day since contractors unearthed and damaged gravemarkers and walls at Vick and Odd Fellows Cemeteries. The stones remain bare to the elements, shielded in part by a ring of bedraggled orange safety netting.
Wilson City Council meets tomorrow. There is nothing on the published agenda concerning Vick Cemetery or Bishop L.N. Forbes Street. As always, however, the last agenda item is “Call on the Audience,” and I hope you are planning to sign up.
Here are the rules:
If I were going to be there, here are some questions I might ask:
- What was the plan to correct drainage and erosion at Vick Cemetery?
- When was the plan finalized?
- Was the plan vetted by the North Carolina State Office of Archaeology?
- Did the City consult New South Associates about the plan? If so, did the City mention that it was going to excavate the ditch?
- Why has the public — in particular, the descendant community — not informed about the plan? The City elected to use its City Projects webpage for communication about Vick Cemetery, but has not updated the page since October 15.
- What investigation has been made into the grave markers uncovered and damaged by contractors on or about December 10?
- Why has there been no official statement, explanation, or apology for damage done to Vick Cemetery?
- What’s the plan going forward?
- Contractors scraped several feet into Odd Fellows Cemetery, damaging the boundary walls of the Tate family plot. Why is the City digging in Odd Fellows? How will the City repair this damage and prevent erosion in this cemetery?
- Why is the City clearcutting in Rountree Cemetery? (The part on the northwest side of the street.)
- When will the City authorize ground-penetrating radar of the public right of way at Vick Cemetery? The need for a survey of this portion of the cemetery was made horrifyingly clear on December 10.
Lane Street Project: MLK service day, January 19.
