One of
CCHA’s most ambitious ongoing projects is the Chatham County
Cemetery
Survey. Since 1989 volunteers have visited hundreds of Chatham
County burial sites to record information about each cemetery
and all of the individual gravestones located there—all in an
effort to save at least some information about these fragile
remnants of Chatham’s history.
Hundreds
of small, family cemeteries dot Chatham’s landscape, although
most are hidden from view. These sites contain important
historical information—about births, deaths, marriages, and
family connections—that, in some cases, can be found nowhere
else. Grave markers deteriorate over time, and the information
they
contain
is lost. Gravesites are destroyed when developers, timber
companies, farmers and homeowners are not sensitive to the signs
that they exist, or to their historical significance. The goal
of CCHA’s Cemetery Survey project is to identify these sites and
record the information while we can, to preserve it for future
generations.
From 1989
through 2001, under the direction of the late Will Heiser, CCHA
volunteers identified cemeteries from published maps and then
called on the citizens of Chatham County to help identify
others. Calls poured in and the volunteers visited hundreds of
sites to record information about each cemetery and all of the
individual gravestones located there. By late 2001, more than
550 gravesites had been reported and a majority of them had been
visited. All told, volunteers recorded information from more
than 27,000 inscribed grave markers. This information as well as
information about the location and condition of each cemetery
was entered into the CCHA’s Cemetery Survey database, which
serves as the county’s official record of gravesites.
Wanting
the cemetery information that had been collected made available
to the
public, even though realizing that the cemetery survey would
always be a work in progress, the CCHA published the two-volume
Gravesites of Chatham County North Carolina in 2002.
Continued sales of these volumes indicate that they are still a
valued source of information. More recently, the gravesite data
have been made available on the Internet through a site called
CemeteryCensus.com, hosted by Allen Dew. This site
makes searching the Chatham County data by name or by cemetery
very easy, and unlike the Gravesites volumes, it is
updated regularly.
In
2006, a small group of volunteers renewed the effort to find and
document Chatham’s unvisited gravesites. These volunteers
continue to research cemetery reports, contact property owners,
and search for remote sites--time-consuming and sometimes
difficult tasks. Most of the easily-identified and accessible
sites, like church graveyards, have now been inventoried. The
reported sites that have not yet been visited are often remote
and their locations uncertain; in many cases they were reported
by individuals now deceased. Yet reports of new or unvisited
sites continue to come in and the community has been generous in
helping to locate these old gravesites.
Since
2006, more than forty additional cemeteries, containing more
than two thousand graves, and more than 900 inscribed grave
markers, have been added to the Chatham County Cemetery Survey.
Some of these sites were among the ones reported almost twenty
years ago, but that had never been visited and documented.
Others were discovered when properties were surveyed for
development, or were reported by community members who learned
of CCHA’s efforts to record information on old burial sites.
Of course,
a job like this is never done. More gravesites are being
discovered and reported, and some reports that have long been on
the books still await visits. This project is the result of a
remarkable, sustained community effort, and it will take the
continued participation of many more volunteers to see that
every gravesite in Chatham County is recorded.
If you
have information about a gravesite, questions, suggestions,
feedback about the cemetery database, or want to volunteer,
contact Bev Wiggins, cemetery survey coordinator, at
919-542-4478, or send email to us at
cemeterysurvey@chathamhistory.org.
Survey. Since 1989 volunteers have visited hundreds of Chatham
County burial sites to record information about each cemetery
and all of the individual gravestones located there—all in an
effort to save at least some information about these fragile
remnants of Chatham’s history. 
contain
is lost. Gravesites are destroyed when developers, timber
companies, farmers and homeowners are not sensitive to the signs
that they exist, or to their historical significance. The goal
of CCHA’s Cemetery Survey project is to identify these sites and
record the information while we can, to preserve it for future
generations. 
public, even though realizing that the cemetery survey would
always be a work in progress, the CCHA published the two-volume
Gravesites of Chatham County North Carolina in 2002.
Continued sales of these volumes indicate that they are still a
valued source of information. More recently, the gravesite data
have been made available on the Internet through a site called
In
2006, a small group of volunteers renewed the effort to find and
document Chatham’s unvisited gravesites. These volunteers
continue to research cemetery reports, contact property owners,
and search for remote sites--time-consuming and sometimes
difficult tasks. Most of the easily-identified and accessible
sites, like church graveyards, have now been inventoried. The
reported sites that have not yet been visited are often remote
and their locations uncertain; in many cases they were reported
by individuals now deceased. Yet reports of new or unvisited
sites continue to come in and the community has been generous in
helping to locate these old gravesites. 