Mount Hope Cemetery

Mount Hope Cemetery a 34.3-acre cemetery owned by the City of Raleigh, was established about 1872 for African Americans and continues to be operated so almost exclusively., Soon after the Civl War, the old City Cemetery was filled with interments. The City of Raleigh appointed three prominent African American citizens, "Messrs. Lougee, [Norfleet] Dunston, and Praire" to locate and purchase land for a new cemetery. In early 1872, the City Purchased eleven and one-half acres "south of the City of Raleigh, near Tucker's Mill, on the Fayetteville road" from Joseph H. and Nicholas B. Barham., The original cemetery contains a gracefully picturesque garden design of driveways that divide the grounds into large curvilinear sections , each laid out into family plots. The undulating hills are landscaped with grassy lawns and a variety of deciduous and evergreen trees. Approximately 1,500 monuments commemorate Raleigh's black citizens, including a number of men and women who rose out of slavery to become prominent in professional fields of church leadership, education at Raleigh's two early African American colleges -St. Augustine's and Shaw- as well as in the public schools, medicine, business, politics, and civic service. Mount Hop Cemetery stands as a landmark of African American pride in Raleigh from the early days of freedom in 1870s to the Civil Rights era of the 1950s., Mount Hope Cemetery contains designs,monuments, markers, walkways, plot boarders and other features which connect visitors to Raleigh's historical past., We ask for your acknowledgement of the sanctity of this site and ask that you use the site in a manner which preserves its features and amenities for future generations., Text: Courtesy of Ruth Little