The Cemetery Remembrance Project

The Cemetery Remembrance Project

By: Eliana Liantonio

Willie C. “Wooder” Felder Jr. was born on September 12, 1931, in Asheville, North Carolina. He was a student, a Boy Scout, and a member of the Stephens-Lee High School Basketball team. Drafted in October 1950 for the Korean War, Willie left for the United States Army and was discharged as a Corporal after the war. Afterwards, he settled down in Asheville, working for the National Climate Center for 25 years, passing away on June 3, 1998. Willie is interred at the Shiloh A.M.E Zion Church cemetery, along with many other veterans who can be searched through the 828archives. As part of The Cemetery Remembrance Project, Willie’s story and many others have been researched and honored by the researchers and students working on this wonderful project.

The Cemetery Remembrance Project was initiated by the Land of Sky Regional Council in 2024 to preserve, identify, and map out African American cemeteries throughout Western North Carolina. Due to budget constraints imposed by the United States government, the project was placed on hold for several months; however, the project is currently underway, and much progress has been made since the project was halted in 2024. On April 23, 2026, the Wilma Dykeman Legacy (WDL) hosted a Mountain Strong event at the Weaverville Community Center that detailed the procedures of the project, the people involved, and the impact that it is making on our region.

The WDL’s president, Jim Stokely, spoke to the crowd that night about how much this project would have meant to Wilma: “A cemetery symbolizes the mission of the Wilma Dykeman Legacy–a space meant to preserve the memory and history of people’s lives”. Just as cemeteries protect the narratives of those who came before us, the WDL works to preserve cultural and environmental history while keeping those stories alive through social justice, environmental integrity, and the power of the written and spoken word. WDL board member and Mars Hill professor Jonathan McCoy hosted the lecture alongside UNCA History professor Dr. Ellen Holmes Pearson, Land of Sky’s Phyllis Utley, and Western Carolina University’s Dr. Blair Tormey.

Many of the cemeteries involved in this project have been around for over a century, with some dating back to the early 1800s. For example, the Old Field Cemetery in Sylva, North Carolina, has been interring people since the 1850s to the present day. This means that this cemetery spans slavery, reconstruction, Jim-Crow, segregation, the Civil Rights era, as well as the 21^stcentury until 2026. The cemetery was segregated, and the African American section was not well-maintained by the cemetery and was subject to vandalism by people in the area. When Dr. Tormey and his team began their research, they were not sure how many people were buried there since there were few headstones. Sylva Scout Troop 999 volunteered to clear the overgrown trees and roots so the researchers could begin their work.

Using a Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), Dr. Tormey and his students from WCU were able to use a non-invasive method to transmit waves that reflect off heterogeneities back to the receiver. In essence, the machine was pushed on top of the grass around the cemetery in order to measure an increase in resolution to find where people were buried. Dr. Tormey and his team found 124 graves total, with 62 of them being in the newly cleared area. Of the graves, 69 were marked: 14 inscribed (1910-1993) and 55 with field stones, meaning that there were 55 unmarked graves. As part of the Cemetery Remembrance Project, the researchers, volunteers, and students involved are working hard to make markers for the graves, as well as memorials within the cemetery itself.

Dr. Ellen Pearson of UNCA spoke about her students' efforts in their Hands-On-History class, which has worked tirelessly to find more information about the people in the cemeteries around Asheville. Specifically, they have focused on the South Asheville Cemetery, which began as a slave burial ground in the early 1800s. It is located on the McDowell family’s property and was overseen by William Wallace McDowell. The South Asheville Cemetery is a two-acre burial ground, with 2,000 souls resting there. Of these graves, only 93 are marked.

In addition to the South Asheville Cemetery, Dr. Pearson and her team have been working with the Shiloh A.M.E. Zion Church Cemetery. Originally, the church and cemetery was located on what is now the Biltmore Estate; however, when George Vanderbilt decided to build his home on the land, his lawyer requested the Church to relocate their neighborhood, church, and cemetery. The men, women, and children buried in Old Shiloh were moved to a new parcel of land close to two African American communities: Rock Hill and Petersburg. The residents began to call this area New Shiloh, and many of the church members from Old Shiloh sold their homes to George Vanderbilt, moving to what is currently Shiloh, south of Biltmore Village.

The Veterans Memorial Wall is a project created by Dr. Pearson for the active Shiloh Church. The project's mission is to commemorate the men and women who courageously fought for the United States during WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. This project brings awareness to the centuries of racism that African Americans have faced after death, and allows family members to memorialize their loved ones.

At the Wilma Dykeman Legacy’s Mountain Strong event, audience members were asking one question: How can I help? Many of the professors of the lecture panel were eager to express their need for community volunteers, because the Land of Sky Regional Council has limited funding for this project. One way to further support this important research and project is to reach out to Dr. Pearson via the South Asheville Cemetery Association website or connect with Land of Sky by visiting the project’s website. The Wilma Dykeman Legacy will be hosting another Mountain Strong -Continuing the Conversation Event on August 27 at the Weaverville Community Center. Presenters at that event will talk and be available to answer any questions about local efforts to learn about our past, thus enriching our future.