Restoration Efforts For Settlers' Cemetery

Restoration Efforts For Settlers' Cemetery. . , Settlers' Cemetery is of the great historic significance because it is the oldest municipal cemetery in Charlotte. With surviving gravestones from 1775 - 1884, it is the resting place for many of Mecklenburg County's founding families and Revolutionary and Civil War veterans. Periodically, over the history of Settlers' Cemetery, restoration efforts have saved the cemetery from oblivion. It seems that about every fifty years, the fate of Settlers' is championed and restoration is accomplished.

From the Catawba Journal, Charlotte's earliest newspaper, on August 22, 1828, "People are invited to assist in throwing up ditches to keep hogs out of the Presbyterian cemetery."

The earliest known reference to the condition of Settlers' is found in the journal of Susan Davis Nye Hutchison, a teacher at Charlotte Female Academy. Her entry of May 17, 1819 reads, No worship in any of the churchs , of all my very large class I had but three in Sabbath School , I walked with Adam and some of the children to the grave yard which is very beautifully shaded with large oaks , It contains a number of the Polk family and many other monuments, all of which, if the yard was cleared of rubbish would make the hallowed spot a delightful Retreat but now it testifies too much of the neglect with which absent departed friends are apt to be visited."

In 1906, with the cemetery suffering neglect, a joint project for its preservation, designed by John Nolan, was completed by John Nolen, was completed by the Charlotte Park and Tree Commission and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

During their lifetimes, Miss Violet Graham Alexander and her sister, Miss Julia Alexander (Major General George Graham's great-granddaughters) worked to care for the cemetery and used their own funds to repair many of the damaged tombstones at Settlers'. Miss Violet Alexander also spoke about the history of the cemetery in March 1930, when the Daughters of the American Revolution chapters installed a monument at the Fifth Street entrance to the cemetery. In 1936, the first known record of all names, dates and epitaphs then existing in the cemetery was completed by Miss Violet Alexander and Mrs. James Perrin (Anne Dowd Gilleylen) Quarles for the Mecklenburg chapter of the DAR.

Mayor Victor Shaw took a personal interest in the deteriorated condition of Settlers' Cemetery and made its renovation a top priority in his term of office (1949-1953).

In 1996, Mecklenburg Historical Association, the City of Charlotte, Bank of America, and other corporate contributors began a public/private effort to restore Settlers' Cemetery. Oalton Moran Robinson Architecture provided a plan for the historically sensitive restoration that included stone perimeter walls, fencing, new lighting. and removal of shrubbery. F.N. Thompson was the general contractor. A penetrometer study located 645 unmarked graves in addition to the 320 documented ones. Over 2,000 volunteer hours were also dedicated to the restoration, which was completed in 1999. Marilyn Cleves Souders and Linda Cook DAlton for MHA along with other volunteers reread, mapped, and numbered the gravesites. The map and name list plaques at the entrance and historic information plaques on Fifth Street were added by MHA as part of this project. Full transcriptions of surviving gravestone epitaphs can be found at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 310 North Tryon Street.

OUr hope is that Settlers' Cemetery will continue to be a quiet historically respected, and appropriately maintained cemetery in the center city for generations to come. Please treat this site with respect. Rubbings of the gravestones are prohibited. The stones are very fragile and rubbings cause permanent damage. Thank you for your interest and enjoy this wonderful green space in our city.