Houses, farms, parks and cemeteries
The Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, at Raleigh and Country Club roads, has been in use since at least 1798, when George Clarke of the university's Philanthropic Society was buried there. Its 1,621 marked graves include university presidents, professors and town leaders, and its western sections hold enslaved people and generations of Chapel Hill's African American community.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.
People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.
Books, articles, records, and images about Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.
Directory and inventory of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery compiled by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and issued by the Town of Chapel Hill in October 1990, in one looseleaf volume; one copy carries a 1987 map. The inventory lists graves in the historic cemetery on the university campus.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
One volume of newspaper and magazine clippings about the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, dated 2003, in various pagings with illustrations and portraits. Sources include the Chapel Hill Herald, the Daily Tar Heel, the Herald-Sun, the Chapel Hill News, Endeavors, Preservation Notes and the University Gazette. Subjects include cemeteries and historic sites in Chapel Hill.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Bland Simpson writes about the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery and the people buried in it, an eleven page illustrated magazine essay from 1999. The long subtitle describes a study of Chapel Hill through its characters.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
A folding guide sheet to the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, issued by the Chapel Hill Preservation Society in 1995, with illustrations and a map across six unnumbered pages. A note on the sheet gives 1798 as the date of establishment.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Lynette Strangstad assessed the condition of selected markers in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery and reported in March 1994 through Stone Faces of Charleston, South Carolina. Fifty-five pages. Topics include cemeteries and sepulchral monuments in Chapel Hill, and the report is the kind of survey used to plan conservation work on old gravestones.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Betsy Baten's 1994 National Register of Historic Places registration form for the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, in its final version, thirty pages with illustrations. It describes the site, sets its boundaries and argues its significance, with a detailed account of the cemetery's history and layout.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Map of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery on the UNC campus, published in 1993 by the Chapel Hill Preservation Society. Plots and structures are drawn over the grounds by phases of burial, and a brochure on the back gives the cemetery's history.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Stan Greenberg's photographs of graves in the Chapel Hill cemetery, among them those of Cornelia Phillips Spencer and Julia Spencer Love of the Spencer and Love family. The prints date from 1970, though some pictures may have been taken earlier.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Map dated November 1960 for a proposed new segregated cemetery beside the Old Cemetery in Chapel Hill, set perpendicular to State Highway 54. It was traced from A.R. Hollett's 1933 map.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
A.R. Hollett engineered this June 1929 map of a proposed extension to the Chapel Hill town cemetery, laid out perpendicular to State Highway 54.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Two color CD-ROMs issued in 2008 documenting the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. Part of the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Paul Hardin Kapp's 2008 paper on the restoration of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Working records of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Task Force from 1985 to 2001, about 800 items in half a linear foot, collection 40345 in the University Archives at UNC. The files concern the cemetery as a Chapel Hill historic site and include material relating to the Black Student Movement at the University of North Carolina.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Dated 1949, this plan of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery is four photocopied sheets taped together into a single sheet measuring 43 by 61 centimeters. It maps the east and west sections with numbered graves and the names of those interred. Part of the North Carolina Collection at UNC.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Grave of Mark Bennett, a member of the Philanthropic Society, in the Chapel Hill cemetery. One undated photograph from the Cemeteries binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Twenty-three undated photographs of grave markers in the Chapel Hill cemetery, among them a Philanthropic Society marker for David Fisher, the grave of Joshua P. Perry, and a marker inscribed 'grave of North Carolina servants'. From the Cemeteries binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Six undated photographs in the Chapel Hill cemetery, showing the burial plots of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies and an unidentified marker with trees grown up around it. Part of the Cemeteries binder in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Two undated views in the Chapel Hill cemetery: the Philanthropic Society's burial plot, and the graves of Cornelia Phillips Spencer and Julia Spencer Love. From the Cemeteries binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Contact sheet of grave markers in the Chapel Hill cemetery, undated. From the Cemeteries binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Mark Bennett's headstone photographed close up in a Chapel Hill cemetery, undated. From the Cemeteries binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Three undated photographs of headstones in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery: Nancy S. Hilliard's, a negative of Dilsey Craig's, and one whose name was not recorded. From the Cemeteries binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
The Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, the town's historic burying ground, in newspaper clippings, photocopied articles, promotional material and a report. Cemeteries series, Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001). Undated.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Construction of a gazebo at the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, shown in one undated photograph. Part of the Cemeteries binder in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
The grave marker of William Durham in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, in one undated photograph from the Cemeteries binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
A 1973 census of the graves in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, set down as a report. From the Cemeteries series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Report of the 1994 census of burials in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, a later count than the 1973 survey. Cemeteries series, Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Report and notes from a task force on the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. The folder belongs to the Cemeteries series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001). Undated.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Not about Old Chapel Hill Cemetery alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.
Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
M. Ruth Little's 2004 architectural history of Chapel Hill and the university campus from 1795 to 1975, written for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. A 99-page survey with a bibliography.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
M. B. Gatza's final report of the 1992 Chapel Hill historic sites survey for the town Planning Department, with contributions by Beverly C. Kawalec and Catherine Bishir. It covers historic buildings and districts in Chapel Hill in 80 pages.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Kelly A. Lally's October 1992 final report on the architectural survey of Chapel Hill township, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Besides the report and a bibliography, most of its 56 pages form an annotated index of the historic buildings surveyed.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Cornelia Spencer Love's recollections of Chapel Hill as a village, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1976 with drawings by John V. Allcott. Love lived from 1892 to 1981, and the book covers Chapel Hill biography, the town's social life and customs, and the faculty of the university before 1962. viii and 87 pages with illustrations.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
John Daniel, a surveyor employed by the university trustees, made this pen and ink map of the future university site in 1792. It shows the tracts of land, the springs and creeks, nearby mills and the roads running from Fayetteville to Hillsborough, Pittsborough to Petersburg, Hillsborough to Newberne, and on to Raleigh. William S. Powell describes the map in First state university.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Dated June 1, 1795, this pen and ink plan lays out the University of North Carolina site in its earliest years: the village, the cleared ground, the avenue, the ornamental ground, the lands belonging to the trustees and the springs. Archibald Henderson reproduced it in The campus of the first state university and identified it as the lost 1795 map by Charles W. Harris. Manuscript map, 30 x 36 cm.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Early hand-drawn plan of the University village at Chapel Hill and the lands around it, which Archibald Henderson dated to between 1797 and 1812. It shows town lots with owners' names, Main Building (South Building), the steward's and president's houses, the chapel, Franklin Street and a Grand Avenue, plus a partial list of buyers at the 1793 lot sale.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
An early manuscript plan of Chapel Hill drawn at 200 yards to the inch, dated 1812, with a note on the verso reading September 4, 1817. It copies an earlier pen and ink plot in the possession of William Pannill, taken in turn from one by John Craig, and it marks boundary lines, town lots with some owners named, the University buildings, the president's lot, the chapel and the preparatory school.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Henry Dennis Carter's reconstruction, drawn as a blueprint in 1934, of Chapel Hill as it stood between 1875 and 1885, showing the buildings of the village. A note on the map says the information came from old residents who gave it to Mary L. Thornton.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Dating from 1888 and attributed to Hunter Lee Harris, a map of Chapel Hill and its vicinity, reproduced as a photocopy measuring 22 by 37 centimeters. Harris died in 1893, which brackets the drawing to the late nineteenth century. An early depiction of the streets of the village and the land around it.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Pen-and-ink manuscript map of Chapel Hill dated 1852, with a table of measurements, showing the University campus, the village around it, street widths and layout, and the town limits. Later notes attributed to Kemp P. Battle give the longitude and latitude of landmarks as measured from atop New East Hall in 1880.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Sanborn Map Company fire insurance map of Chapel Hill, June 1925, on eleven sheets, with Carrboro also drawn. Sanborn maps recorded the outline, construction and use of each building for fire insurers, so the set shows both towns block by block in the mid 1920s.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Street and property map of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country, revised to 1 January 1933 and printed in the town. Topics include streets, real property and the historical geography of Chapel Hill along with maps of the University of North Carolina in its 1793 to 1962 period. A useful sheet for tracing lot lines and street names as they stood at the start of the 1930s.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.
These books don’t necessarily mention Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.
Steven Stolpen's pictorial history of Chapel Hill, one of the Donning Company's photographic town histories, published in Norfolk, Virginia in 1978. Photographs and portraits carry the story of the town and the university, including references to Thomas Wolfe's years as a student at Carolina. 156 pages with illustrations.
Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.
Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.
A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.
Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.
Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Find a burial and investigate a cemetery.
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