Was a mother buried here?
We will never know, but today we remember and honor all the mothers buried in Vick, Odd Fellows, and Rountree Cemeteries, and vow to continue the search for all lost graves in these grounds.
Photos of the disturbed gravesite in Vick Cemetery and bits of its marble surround taken May 2026 by Lisa Y. Henderson.
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):
Nothing yet to report re the timing of ground-penetrating radar in the Vick Cemetery right-of-way, but here’s a reminder of the City’s plan:
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.
Finally, item 13 on the 19 March 2026 Wilson City Council Agenda:
These supporting materials have been presented to council members for review and are available online.
The Agenda Item Cover Sheet, subject line “Vick Cemetery Plan,” summarizes Item 13 and sets forth City Manager Rodger Lentz’s recommendation.
This document sets forth the Vick Cemetery Plan in detail. The plan is proposed in three phases by order of urgency, with some additional future actions, and includes a summary of archaeological firm New South Associates’ recommendations.
Council previously approved placement of boundary markers, paid for with state grant money. The next documents suggest placement and appearance.
(Nobody asked me, but as between these three, I’d go with the simplest — C. I might also pick a different font, maybe Gill Sans or Optima, though the Roman matches the existing pillars at the entrance to the parking lot.)
(There’s something a little off about the larger scale for “Vick” below. A, with same size lettering?)
New South Associates’ proposal and budget for additional ground-penetrating radar at Vick, which include confirmation that the pieces of stone dislodged in December were marble vault fragments associated with a grave in the right-of-way.
I am confident that City Manager Lentz’s recommendations will be adopted, and the City will move forward with alacrity to begin implementation. The results of this round of GPR will dictate the manner in which many of the proposals can be carried out and whether even more action is warranted. Vick Cemetery has suffered more than a century of indifference, neglect, and active harm, and its issues won’t be remediated overnight. However, this recommendation goes a long way toward addressing our oft-repeated demands, and for the first time I am sanguine about the cemetery’s future.
Thanks again to Mayor Carlton Stevens, City Manager Rodger Lentz, Assistant City Managers Bill Bass and Albert Alston, and Councilmember Susan Kellum for righting the City’s ship on this issue. Thank you to Castonoble Hooks, Briggs Sherwood, Dr. Judy Rashid, Lisa Benoy Gamble, Jen Kehrer, Tiyatti Speight, Chris Facey, and all who kept a close eye on Vick over the last few months, documented its condition, or spoke truth to power on its behalf. Thanks also to the Wilson Times for its close and ongoing coverage of Vick Cemetery issues. A robust local press matters!
Please note that, while we appreciate these moves and are hopeful about Vick’s future, so much of what is now being proposed to council are requests and demands repeatedly made right here at Black Wide-Awake over the last three years. The information needed to support these proposals has been available to anyone willing to look and see.
A couple of months ago, I went a little off-topic to ask Wilson’s new council members to set new standards for communication with their constituents (and others with vested interests in community affairs). I don’t know if Susan Kellum saw my post, but, one way or another, she heard my cry. Kellum has demonstrated a refreshing and unprecedented willingness to listen to community concerns and made herself available for last week’s meeting even though she had a tight schedule.
Here’s what I wrote in January: “… a timely post from a council member, especially about issues directly concerning the people who put them in office, is both efficient and effective and allows for comments and quick feedback from community members. No one is expecting council to spill state secrets on Facebook, but the dense fog that shrouds Wilson’s workings needs to dissipate, and these kinds of posts are absolute sunshine.” Thank you, Susan Kellum, for championing hard conversations and for keeping the community informed.