Odd Fellows cemetery

Lane Street Project: an Odd Fellows funeral.

Photographs of Lane Street Project cemeteries during their period of usage are exceedingly rare. The photo, which may depict friends or relatives of Samuel H. Vick‘s family, appears to have been taken in Odd Fellows Cemetery. An older woman, a man in perhaps late middle-age, a young woman, and girl stand behind what appears to be a grave marker dedicated with a small American flag. (Was it Memorial Day?) Bearded irises grow in the foreground. Two grave markers are clearly visible at middle distance to the right, with others perhaps beyond.

I am grateful to an anonymous supporter for use of this image.

Lane Street Project: the Vick family plot, revisited.

Look at the difference a year makes! The Vick family plot — right to left, Viola Vick, Daniel and Fannie Vick, Samuel H. Vick, Annie M. Vick (the marble slab just beyond), and Irma Vick. The spaces between these markers suggest additional burials, and we will probe carefully in search of markers.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2024.

Lane Street Project: season 4, workday 2.

The bitter wind and cold got the better of us Saturday morning, and the Senior Force made the sound decision to cancel the workday. Today, then, was all the sweeter.

Jen Kehrer and the “Junior Force” arrived early to remove trash from the roadside and to beautify the chainlink fence between Odd Fellows and Vick Cemeteries. These children chose to spend their Martin Luther King Jr. day off as a day on, and we deeply appreciate their care and contribution.

Wright Brothers arrived with the equipment and expertise needed to demolish the last big thicket in the mid-section of Odd Fellows Cemetery and to remove numerous trees. Castonoble Hooks opined that the tonnage taken out today was greater than the total of prior seasons. Briggs Sherwood also noted the day’s excellent progress and lauded Wright Brothers for their careful work amid difficult, delicate terrain.

Our next workday, in partnership with Scarborough House Resort, is January 27. Please come see our progress and help advance our reclamation of Odd Fellows Cemetery.

Please consider Wright Brothers Lawncare and Landscaping, 919-252-9130, for your professional needs. Thank you, John Kirk Barnes (of The Kirk’s Flowers, 252-299-0903) and Josiah Wright. Photos courtesy of Castonoble Hooks and R. Briggs Sherwood.

Lane Street Project: MLK Day of Service.

“Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”  — Martin Luther King Jr.

Serve and build community with Lane Street Project on Saturday, 13 January 2024, as we honor the life of Dr. King with our work to reclaim and restore honor to Odd Fellows Cemetery. Bring light cutting tools, weedeaters, and mowers; hot drinks and snacks; prayers for the safety of those working and the souls of the dead. All are welcome.

Lane Street Project: mystery markers.

Died Apr. 2, 192[3?]. May the Resurrection Find Thee On the Bosom of Thy God.

Two mysteries: (1) the broken concrete slab is missing the section that names the deceased, and the slab is lying atop (2) a square marble base whose large obelisk marker is entirely missing. The base sits several yards from Henry Tart‘s monument in Odd Fellows Cemetery, and the obelisk would have been similar to his and Wiley Oates‘. It may have been the marker visible in the background of a photograph of Irma Vick‘s funeral.

Did the concrete marker commemorate Aaron Washington? Per his death certificate, this 57 year-old Wayne County native died 2 April 1923 and was buried in Wilson by C.H. Darden & Sons. This generic place designation could mean Vick, Odd Fellows, or Rountree Cemeteries. 

Hoping we’ll find more clues in Season 4 of the Lane Street Project Clean-up Workdays to the identities of the men or women whose graves these headstones marked. Please join us.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2023.

Lane Street Project: Mariah Powell?

Died Nov. 3, 1921. Age 51 Yrs. Gone to a brighter home, where grief cannot come.

Is this broken headstone in Odd Fellows Cemetery that of Mariah Powell?

Per her death certificate, Mariah Powell of Wilson died 3 November 1921 at the age of 53. (This is a little off the age on the marker, but reasonably close.) She was born in Tarboro, Edgecombe County. Informant Luciar Stamper did not know Powell’s parents, and her marital status is ambiguously conveyed. Powell was buried by undertakers Batts Bros. & Artis in Wilson County, which possibly was a generic designation for Vick Cemetery.

Unfortunately, I can find little about Mariah Powell before her death. She may have been the Maria Powell listed in the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory as a laundress living at 411 East Green, as was laundress Lucille Powell.

Perhaps the new season of Lane Street Project cleanups with uncover the rest of her marker.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2023.