NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Tucked away a half a mile from Oleander Drive are 25 graves — the tallest marking no larger than waist height — with short inscriptions etched into their stones, surrounded by trees and guarded only by a chain-link fence. The headstones are all facing the east now, a Christian practice preparing the deceased to meet Christ when he returns, though just a few months ago many lay broken and buried in dirt and debris, largely forgotten by the world around them.
The headstones’ reinstatement is owed in large part to one UNCW graduate student, Rachel Smith.
“I’ve always had an affinity and an affection towards cemeteries and doing something like this has always been on my want list,” Smith told Port City Daily while giving a tour of the improved Rice Road Cemetery.
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Having attended N.C. State and Fayetteville Technical College, Smith was on track to become a funeral director when she fell in love with sustainable death care, such as green burials and aquamation.
“That’s not taught in our very conventional funeral service education program within the states,” Smith said. “So I kind of decided I would continue my education in that direction, and that’s why I enrolled in environmental science.”
This semester at UNCW, Smith enrolled in Professor Amy Long’s Restoration Ecology course, where students’ final projects consist of fully restoring anything — from start to finish.
Smith reached out to Bambi Karabin, part of New Hanover County’s engineering department. She oversees 131 cemeteries and runs the Adopt a Cemetery program, connecting volunteers with opportunities to restore cemeteries.
“Dead people can’t pay taxes, so I don’t have a lot of weight, but she contacted me for the project, and I thought, ‘Well, this is ours, this will be easy because we own it’ … and she just did a fantastic job,” Karabin said.
At least 55 people are buried in Rice Road Cemetery per death records, though the state wouldn’t start requiring death certificates until 1913; the earliest headstone, of one Lucy Franks, is dated 1899. Smith said some of the headstones could be missing or buried further than she could unearth, and it’s likely some people, particularly from poor families, could rest there without a headstone.
“There really are no rules when it comes to being buried, especially that long ago,” Smith said.
In all, Smith and Karabin located 25 headstones, many of which were unlevel, broken, illegible, or completely buried or uprooted upon Smith’s arrival in September.
Per the duo’s research, the cemetery belonged to African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, situated near the Rice Road site before it was washed away in a nor’easter in the 1940s. The church then relocated to Greenville Loop Road and by 1999, the cemetery was considered abandoned.
“The church has kind of faded, because everybody’s gotten older, and there’s not very many [members] and they don’t meet anymore,” said Karabin, who has been in contact with some of the members.
Smith also shared neighbors’ reports that the cemetery had been frequented by a gang of teenage boys. This could have contributed to the poor state of the headstones.
After asking for the county to reconvey ownership to the church in 2014, the cemetery was transferred back to NHC ownership in 2021.
Of the headstones Smith found, two had unreadable inscriptions, with many of the remaining 23 sharing names amongst each other. In all, there are four Everetts, two Franks, two Pedens, six James, two Nixons and two Waddells, along with a Boykin, Jones, Simpson, Small and Wagner.
Smith separated her approach to restoration into five categories — cleaning, leveling, resetting, reconstruction and mending — with all of the headstones receiving a cleaning. Some of the most challenging headstones needed work in all five categories.
Silas James was one, found in poor condition, missing pieces, and leaning up against a tree. Smith located the headstone’s missing lower-right corner and reconstructed it with epoxy, but where to put the headstone was still a mystery.
“Initially, I had thought about just kind of incorporating him somewhere within the cemetery that made sense, most likely next to family members,” she said.
Through further research, Smith uncovered the approximate location of the headstone of his relative, Katie James, and then found out the two were married. The two headstones were erected next to each other.
“I love the story with Katie and Silas, just being able to kind of put them back together,” Smith said.
The most daunting of the bunch was Richard Everett’s headstone, broken in five places and partially buried. Smith dug out the structure — “it’s probably 100 pounds” she said — and mended it, though it’s still a work in progress. Its putty hasn’t fully set so stakes prop up the headstone in the proper position.
The cemetery is also home to several children who died in infancy, outfitted with smaller headstones, one of which has an unbroken carving of a lamb atop it. Smith said it was uncommon to see headstones like that intact after so many years.
Though the restoration project came to an end with the fall semester, Smith said she lives right down the road from the cemetery and plans to keep an eye on it. County parks and recreation staff also do quarterly cleanings of all county-owned cemeteries.
When asked whether she wanted to continue restoring cemeteries, Smith indicated she wasn’t pursuing it, but did agree to help Karabin in any similar projects that may arise. Ultimately, though, she said she’s grateful for the experience.
“Not only was it restorative for the cemetery, but restorative for myself just having a place so peaceful,” Smith said.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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