A geospatial and archaeological investigation of an African–American cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Abstract

Oberlin Cemetery, located near downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, was founded in 1873 following the American Civil War (1861–1865). This 3.2 ac (~1.29 ha) parcel of land served as the main cemetery for the people of Oberlin Village—the largest freedmen's community in Wake County. Today, descendants of the village founders and other neighbourhood residents, organized as the Friends of Oberlin Village (FOV), are preserving this community landmark and working to have its historical significance recognized. In support of these efforts, terrestrial laser scanning, global-positioning-system-enabled pedestrian and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were conducted during the winter and summer of 2016. We inventoried 276 formal grave markers identifying 221 individuals, 296 elongate depressions without a formal marker interpreted as sunken graves, and 130 fieldstones interpreted as burial markers, resulting in an estimate of 517-to-660 persons interred within the cemetery. The GPR survey supported the interpretation of topographic depressions as sunken graves; however, the undulating topography, as well as the density of trees and shrubs, limited this survey to ~12% of the site. Based on the birth dates listed on monuments, ~23% of these persons were born before the end of the Civil War. Death dates show the community's continued use of the cemetery throughout the early 1970s and less frequent use after that, with the most recent burials in 2009. A comparison with a 2012 inventory of monuments within Oberlin Cemetery suggests that ~3% of the markers were lost or displaced in 4 years, highlighting the importance of survey and preservation efforts. This work contributed to the FOV's successful nomination of the cemetery to the US National Register of Historic Places and was used to support several grants received for its preservation.