- This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(slow-beat instrumental country music) - [Jason] More than 140,000 cemeteries and graveyards dot the landscape of the United States.

(slow-beat instrumental country music) From massive municipal cemeteries, designed with park-like features, to the small church graveyards offering eternal rest to their departed parishioners.

To many, they are sacred places.

And to others, they are libraries full of individual stories.

We'll venture into one of Charlotte's largest cemeteries to learn the story behind its design and meet a group of reenactors who share the stories of those buried at the cemetery.

Then we stepped through an opening in a wall.

A wall that one's denied dignity in death but today creates an opportunity for a local church to unite all people.

Finally, we traveled to Lincolnton, where preservationists work to protect the monuments that tell our stories in death.

That and more on this episode of "Trail of History."

(positive upbeat guitar music) (upbeat chime music) There is a saying that one thing in life is certain.

We are all going to die.

Around the world, the customs and traditions that surround death differ from culture and region.

But for many, burial is the main option.

And for that you need a cemetery or graveyard.

In uptown Charlotte at the corner of Church street and West Fifth Street is Settlers' Cemetery.

- We are in the oldest public cemetery in Charlotte.

And the only 18th century site that still survives in uptown Charlotte.

- [Jason] And some of the earliest who's who of Charlotte were laid to rest here.

- We have general George Graham from the Revolutionary War.

We have Thomas Polk, who's widely known as the father of the city of Charlotte.

Who's buried back here.

His wife, Susanna Spratt Polk.

She was the daughter of John Spratt, who was the first settler to cross the Yadkin River on wheels with his wagon.

We just have all kinds of interesting characters here.

And it's a wide date range from the earliest is Joel Baldwin, who was a Hatter in uptown Charlotte.

- [Jason] It's thought the first burial occurred here in 1776 and the last around 1884, but more than a century after that last burial this historic cemetery needed attention.

- MHA, Mecklenburg Historical Association got some calls from people actually that lived down uptown in the condos.

And they were concerned because the condition of Settlers' was deplorable.

At some point, the city had decided to overreach in my opinion and turn this into a park instead of a cemetery.

And they had planted big bushes and shrubs on top of graves.

And there were red brick walkways, and you could tell it was a cemetery, but it wasn't being honored that way at all.

It was overgrown.

It was not safe.

In 1997 and 98, we put together a public, private partnership with the city of Charlotte and Bank of America.

And we ended up with $500,000 to do a restoration of Settlers' Cemetery.

- [Jason] Today, Settlers' Cemetery is a place for the public to learn about some of Charlotte's earliest settlers, but eventually Charlotte out grew this small plot and needed a larger cemetery.

One that drew upon European influences.

(gentle guitar music) - We're a few blocks away in an area that was the edge of town in the 1850s.

There was a fashion for what they called the rural cemetery.

Began in Paris with Père Lachaise, which was a park-like cemetery at the edge of town.

Got picked up in Boston, Mount Auburn Cemetery in the 1830s.

By the 1850s, every city that was going to be a big city wanted to have this rural cemetery park thing at the edge of town.

There were not public parks at that point.

And so having a cemetery that kind of did double duty, curving streets, trees, picturesque placement of stones.

Those kinds of things was a big deal.

And Charlotte wanted to be a big city.

1850, we had 1,065 residents here.

- [Jason] The new cemetery proved a success.

- Must've been a highly desirable place.

They say people were dying to get in, and by 1889 they bought another 55 acres and expanded it even further.

- There was no park and rec back in the 1800s.

They came here to have a picnic, to sit down and respect their loved ones.

- [Jason] For some, it may seem strange to recreate in what many consider hallowed ground.

Local historian Tom Hanchett, offers his perspective.

- You may be worried that a cemetery is a place that you shouldn't be as a living person, or that you should only be there because you are expressing reverence for a particular person who's passed away.

And those are good reasons to be at a cemetery.

But the idea behind the rural cemetery movement was that these were places for all of us to come at any time and to reflect, to connect with history, to connect with nature.

I love seeing people running in the cemetery.

I love to see people walking together, a way of connecting with a fellow human being.

And here's a quiet place to do that.

To contemplate, to admire the creation that is around us.

(gentle instrumental music) - [Jason] When you enter the cemetery you might not realize it's actually two combined cemeteries, but there was a time when Elmwood and Pinewood were solidly divided by a fence.

- You can see the impact of segregation.

Right where we're standing, there's kind of a curb stone between Elmwood Cemetery and Pinewood Cemetery.

And that's because they used to be separate burying places for black folks and white folks until 1969 when Fred Alexander, first African-American city council person in the 20th century, finally convinced city leaders to take down that fence, but you can still see where it ran and that's kind of a metaphor for our society, where we've desegregated so much, but you can still see those outlines of history.

- [Jason] And in both of the cemeteries lay many of the who's who of Charlotte's past.

- In Pinewood alone, there's the grave of Daniel J. Sanders, D.D., Doctor of Divinity.

He was the first African-American president at Johnson C. Smith University, 1895.

Thad Tate, who was a barber who was a major economic leader in town, founded Grace A.M.E. Zion Church.

W.W. Smith who was an a brick mason at a time when African-Americans coming out of slavery times, they did most of the brick work, made most of the brick in Charlotte.

And you can see the loving brick work in his mausoleum.

- [Jason] And over in the Elmwood section.

- Edward Dilworth Latta, the Dilworth neighborhood, Latta park.

He's buried here.

Folks who were very much part of American popular culture.

Randolph Scott, who was a big movie star.

Sort of the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the 1940s, 1950s.

He's buried here.

- Harriet Irwin, right there.

She's the first lady that had a patent for a six sided house.

Of course you have the Belk's, Ivy's.

- Julia Alexander, who is of all of the people in this cemetery, the one that I would I think most like to meet because she was an attorney in the early 20th century and a community leader.

Published books about Charlotte, served in the state legislature.

Remarkable person, Julia Alexander.

- [Jason] Then there is the grave of John King, a traveling circus animal trainer who was killed by an elephant.

The circus moved on to the next city, while King was buried in Charlotte.

When walking through the cemetery, it's easy to get pulled into the variety of markers, many telling the stories of those beneath.

- A lot of the iconography, I guess you call it, is classical.

A lot of, you know, beautiful nymphs and you know, people to remind you of the beauty of life, even in death.

I love the range of designs here from simple to ornate.

You have Greek temple mausoleums.

You have a little English country church gothic mausoleums.

You have a whole bunch of things that look like somebody carved a stump out of stone and they're for a group called Woodmen of the World.

That's not particularly well remembered now, but they were a burial society.

At the point when there wasn't easily available commercial insurance, if you joined the Woodmen of the World, you would have a gravestone when the time came.

(positive upbeat guitar music) - [Jason] The markers and iconography are not the only ways you can learn about some of the stories here at Settlers', Elmwood, and Pinewood Cemeteries.

Once a year, docents from the Mecklenburg Historical Association present Voices From the Past.

- Voices from the Past is where Charlotte comes alive for the day.

We invite the public to come and hear our stories of Charlotte's amazing history.

- Hi, I'm Dr. Annie Alexander, but folks around here, just call me Dr. Annie.

I'm the first female physician in North Carolina.

- I'm a reporter, reporting about the Pinewood Cemetery, which there was a fence that divided Pinewood from Elmwood.

- My name is John Springs and at one time it was rumored that I was the richest man in Upland, South Carolina.

- How do, my name is General George Graham.

At your service, sir.

I was born in 1756 in Pennsylvania.

My mother brought me down here to Charlotte when I was about 10 or 11 years old.

And I've been here ever since.

In fact, I've been right here since March the 29th 1831.

- It is so amazing when we have a thousand people walking through Elmwood, Pinewood, and Settlers' Cemetery in April at our event.

And they don't know any of our history, and they listen to the stories, and they cry, they laugh.

And when they say, "Wow, I didn't know that."

I know that we've really accomplished what we're trying to do here.

(gentle instrumental music) - [Jason] Not every burial ground is created equally.

This was made evident during the era of slavery in the United States.

When an enslaved person died, their burial was often rushed.

And with little dignity given to the deceased.

- We have to understand when we look at slavery, these enslaved people were not seen as people.

They were property.

What do you do with your TV when it breaks?

You dump it.

What do you do with enslaved property?

You dump it.

You put it in a hole never to be thought of again, you don't- And how do you know that it's not going to be thought of again?

Because you don't put a big pretty marker.

You don't put their name on it.

When they were born, when they died.

Enslaved cemeteries typically are found like you see here along tree groves or in thickety areas.

The enslaved population were buried in what we call a marginal property.

Property that wouldn't otherwise be used for anything else other than a burial ground.

- [Jason] Many of these burial grounds were abandoned to time, making it difficult to recognize them.

- So typically you see nothing.

You see field stones, you see ground cover, like little plants.

You see the divots in the ground where the graves were, and pretty much that's it.

A lot of times when archeology is done, grave goods are found, like things even like pottery and broken glass and pipe pieces are found on those graves because they are to help them in the afterlife and to help them remember.

It's a tradition that we as African-Americans still do today.

(car rumbles) - [Jason] In York County, South Carolina, the Allison Creek Presbyterian Church was founded in 1854.

And like many rural churches, there's a graveyard, but it's not the only one.

Just beyond a crumbling rock wall, a path leads you into the woods and to the Clay Hill Graveyard.

- This is the location where the enslaved and free African-Americans were buried, starting sometime around in the 1800s.

- [Jason] It's believe the first burials took place here around 1850, four years before the church's founding.

And according to Reverend Sam McGregor those first buried here were likely enslaved African-Americans from the nearby hills' iron works and plantation.

After the civil war, the Clay Hill Cemetery continued to be used by local African-Americans until about 1896.

It's believed there are about 300 graves.

What's unique at Allison Creek Presbyterian, a church that during the era of segregation excluded African Americans from its congregation, now embraces and acknowledges its history.

- You would never think about a cemetery becoming such a vital part of a ministry during these particular time but it has become that.

Because over the past several years the folks in this church have been open to catching a vision of restoring the cemetery and allowing the stories out of the cemetery to be told, which has then led to the redevelopment of this 23 acres of property.

(car rumbles) - [Jason] Their vision led to the creation of Common Ground, a network of trails at the church that are open to the public and includes the Clay Hill Cemetery.

- Well, I've known about this cemetery in my years of doing living history, but never have been to Allison Creek, never have been to this space.

And as I approached, my breath, I started losing my breath because there's hundreds literally of graves that are marked here with white markers.

And I've never in my life seen anything like this.

And they welcome everyone by creating walking trails, hiking trails, right around the cemetery.

And they actually interpreted.

A lot of people try to hide these things.

You can't hide all of these white markers around here.

You can't hide it at all.

- We feel very blessed to be able to provide this space for folks to come and walk these trails, visit the cemetery, and to hear a very powerful story, which comes out of the cemetery.

It gives opportunities for folks to truly honor the folks that truly are very much the backbone of America.

And by coming out to this cemetery, you honor their sacrifices that they made to build the United States that we know today.

And also by visiting this particular cemetery, it allows this story, these stories to be told, and how those historical stories helped to interpret our current reality.

And it help us understand where we been, where we are today, and the connections between those two periods.

- [Jason] And if you find yourself visiting this special place.

- I would hope that by, by visiting this site, by walking through the one cemetery into this cemetery, that all of that kind of emotion, all of that contrast, becomes very real to folks as they come out here.

But also I had somebody say to me one time, they said, "You know, when they come back to this cemetery, there is a spirituality here that is unique, that a lot of cemeteries are very sterile.

And, but this is a place that is not.

It's very much alive with the stories that are able to be shared out of this cemetery."

- There's a sense of solace.

There's a sense of life.

Even in this place where the dead is buried.

I feel like even now that they are actually honoring them in their death.

(positive upbeat guitar music) - [Jason] Back in Charlotte, there are seven city-owned cemeteries, covering around 220 acres.

And with an average of 400 to 500 burials occurring each year, to oversee it all, the city needed a person known as a Sexton.

- Means that you're the caretaker, the soul proprietor that takes care of everybody above ground and below ground.

And financials and maintenance and everything that goes with it.

I like to call them mini cities because we have roads, buildings, everything a city would have.

- [Jason] City of Charlotte Cemetery Director Bill Bibby says taking care of the cemeteries, such as Elmwood and Pinewood, can be very costly.

- Since I started here five years ago, cutting of the grass has contracted out, and it's gone up 171%.

And it's equaling close to about $275,000 a year just to cut the grass here at this one cemetery by itself.

And if you think about it, if you ever walk the cemetery, somebody has to cut around to every headstone, every marker, everything, it is a beast.

- [Jason] And if you ever wonder how many people are actually buried here.

- That is a good question because the recordkeeping wasn't very good.

I'm going to say probably it's close to 50,000.

And to me, this is small.

People think this is big.

I was in Pittsburgh, one cemetery I had there was 400 acres.

The other one was 300 acres.

This is only 75.

- [Jason] That's a lot of headstones and monuments that are subject to the elements.

And sadly at times vandalism.

Repairing the damage is best left to the experts.

(gentle guitar music) - There is a lot of history in this cemetery.

Stories I've heard my whole entire life.

- [Jason] At St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Lincolnton, while small, there's around 180 years of stories.

- So the graveyard and the monuments started on the property very likely soon after the foundation of the church around 1841.

- [Jason] And with age comes challenges.

- There's a lot of maintenance and it's costly.

- [Jason] And can certainly bring some level of anxiety.

- I lay awake at night sometimes thinking about and worrying about some of our monuments here.

I see graveyards that have been desecrated, and I think, "Oh, what would we do?"

It would kill us if something would happen to some of these stones, if someone would damage them.

- [Jason] And when several of the markers were potentially vandalized, Jane Goodson and Mary Whisonant knew just the person to call.

Meet Jason Harpe.

(stone scratching) - I am a public historian and director of cemetery conservation for Richard Grubb and Associates incorporated.

What my title means is that I do or I'm involved with a number of projects that involve public history.

That can be architecture.

That can be, you know, public programming.

It could be a number of different things.

So it's kind of all encompassing title for the variety of things that I do.

And then Director of Cemetery Conservation is just that.

I'm responsible for most of our cemetery projects, mainly the ones that involve the conservation and restoration of grave markers.

But our firm also does ground-penetrating radar surveys.

We have archeologists on staff who are involved with some cemetery projects as well.

- [Jason] And Harpe says grave markers take all kinds of abuse.

- The grave markers could just need a cleaning.

Other times you'll have damage from vandals, from lawnmowers and weed eaters, from limbs falling off of trees.

So, you know, so you have a number of different types of grave markers.

So if you have a what we call a ground supported tablet.

That's just a tablet of marble that was put directly into the ground.

And if it breaks in half, it needs to be repaired.

Or if you have a cross, like the ones behind me, that the original bonding agent that the company used has deteriorated, or really wasn't that strong.

So you're left in a situation where it's a safety hazard if this heavy cross is not attached and you've got say young kids who may be crawling on these things, and it could be safety issue.

- [Jason] And having the right knowledge to make the repairs is critical because you could actually do more damage if you don't know what you're doing.

- So when we're cleaning grave markers, we're using a chemical called D/2 biological solution.

And it is to remove the the lichen and other growth that's on the grave marker.

So we use to clean, we use the D/2, we use water, and we also use soft bristle brushes.

We never use, you never want to use any wire brushes on marble, granite, well actually own any type of stone, really.

So that means it's really just a procedure of us just using very gentle methods.

We don't use any harsh chemicals like Clorox.

- [Jason] Besides cleaning the markers at St. Luke's, the church also enlisted harp's expertise on another project.

- The fence that we're conserving it's a cast iron fence.

It had been painted.

I don't know how many different times.

I don't know in previous treatments, if you want to call it treatments, their exact procedure.

But what we're left with is a good bit of paint and then paint that's fallen off and exposed the metal.

So what we have to do- We also had lichen growth on it.

So we had to clean the fence completely, and then wire brush the entire thing.

And then use a rust converter to address the exposed metal.

And then we'll use a primer and black paint over it.

And then it should last a good time.

(gentle instrumental music) - [Jason] So why care?

- Not only because it's a sacred place of, you know, where people are laid to rest, but also it's just the material culture.

We have all these, not all these, but some of these grave markers are, you know, you can learn a great deal from them.

Not only from the iconography on the grave markers, but also things like the epitaphs.

And a lot of times it's just really interesting to walk around and read what kind of things people would put on their grave markers.

- [Jason] The congregation has chosen to care, and the work to preserve the markers and fence is more than a simple maintenance and preservation project.

- It's important to carry our history on, but we also have an obligation to the families who have buried their families here.

We have an obligation to the people who founded this church.

(positive upbeat music) - [Jason] The cemeteries and graveyards that dot the landscape offer those of us left behind a bit of solace, knowing a loved one is at peace.

The markers and monuments provide context to the person's stories.

The lack of a marker or a monument provides another context.

Those that make it their duty to preserve these hollow grounds often do it with little praise.

But there's no denying that within these cities of the dead, there are lessons to be learned and unique stories to be told.

Thank you for watching this episode of a "Trail of History."

(positive upbeat music) (positive upbeat music fades) - [Narrator] A production of PBS Charlotte.