Salisbury’s Dixonville-Lincoln Memorial Project Task Force recently celebrated enhancements to the city’s historic African-American cemetery, while also honoring those interred, Saturday, Sept. 16.
The DixonviIle Cemetery was the first city-owned cemetery specifically for the burial of African Americans. According to late Salisbury historian Betty Dan Spencer, there were over 500 documented burials at the cemetery, though when the project began, only 18 gravestones were present. More than 175 people participated in last month’s dedication of the Cemetery Memorial.
The new memorial walk was designed to enhance the front of the cemetery with patterned sidewalks, granite steps, engraved granite monuments listing the names of those interred, as well as an interpretive walk where visitors may gather, study and reflect on the history of the cemetery.
Since its founding in 2010, the Dixonville-Lincoln Memorial Task Force made many improvements to the site and held numerous fundraising events to raise funds for the Memorial. Basic repairs were made to existing gravestones, a historical sign and educational kiosk were installed, a significant footpath that bisects the property from Old Concord Rd. to Lincoln School was restored, and a seating area dedicated to the memory of Fred M. Evans, former resident of East End and Memorial Task Force Chair was installed. The Cemetery also includes tributes to William C. Peoples and Floyd A. Kerr, III, Task Force members who passed away in recent years.
To learn more about Dixonville-Lincoln Memorial please visit 210 Old Concord Rd. or visit online at www.dixonvillememorial.com.