Forgotten lives rediscovered

It began with Wake Forest resident Carol Paulonis, who somehow learned there was a cemetery with a few scattered headstones and monuments where slaves and then former slaves worshipped in a bush arbor and also buried their loved ones. Later, up through 1929 or so it was the burial ground for Friendship Chapel Missionary Baptist Church founded in 1865.

The congregation moved into a new brick building in 1929 when W.W. Holding was consolidating the land for his dairy farm, and the cemetery was left behind, across some farm lands from the new church. It was maintained for some time but fell into disuse as the church members began burying their dead next to the new church.

Fast forward more than 100 years, and the farm land is being developed into a subdivision. Several men at Friendship Chapel had been clearing the old burial ground but there were fears it would be forgotten – even that the still evident graves would be moved to make way for new houses.

Paulonis interviewed, searched records and took pictures and you can see the results of her labor in the display about the cemetery at the Wake Forest Historical Museum on North Main Street that she underwrote.

She also became a board member of the Wake Forest Historical Association, where she and other members talked about some way to preserve the cemetery. The developer does have to make accommodation for the cemetery. The original development plan approved by the town back in 2007 said the developer would provide parking space, fencing around the cemetery and signage. But the association board members wanted more. They wanted to know how many graves are there and where they are, and they want the cemetery to be recognized for its historical value.

So Paulonis with Dianne Laws and Roger Shackleford, board members and members at Friendship, along with Beverly Whisnant, Mandi Keith and Jennifer Smart, the museum’s assistant director, concluded they needed a search by ground penetrating radar and the help of consultants. They included the church’s pastor, Dr. Enoch Holloway, and other congregation members in the discussions.

The result was a grant proposal sent to the Jandy Ammons Foundation, set up by Heritage developer Andy Ammons, his wife, Jan, and their daughter, Jessie. The foundation came through with a grant of $9,000.

The group also reached out to Wake Forest resident Ellen Turco, a preservation planner with New South Associates, and archeologist Sarah Lowry with the same firm and hired the two to do the work.

It was Lowry who painstakingly guided the radar equipment in a carefully measured to grid on the 1.64 acres the church still owns. Some of the terrain was too rugged for her equipment, which resembles an extremely bulky push lawnmower. Trees and large stones blocked the way. She surveyed everywhere she could push the machine. From that data she can identify the number and location of a majority of the graves and make an educated guess as to the total number of burials in the property’s more remote areas.

The results of that search will be available soon and will be the basis for a program about the cemetery sponsored by the Wake Forest Historical Association on Sunday, April 23, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Wake Forest Historical Museum on North Main Street. Turco and Lowry will be there along with members of Friendship Chapel Missionary Baptist Church and pastor Dr. Holloway.

When he walked through the cemetery recently, Holloway said, “It’s an awe that I’m walking with my ancestors, and I just feel my blood boiling.” The cemetery was also the subject of a recent news story on WRAL-TV. If you saw that, you will want to learn the rest of the story at the program on April 23, which is free and open to everyone.