Established in 1768 by John Lewis Beard. It is located at 515 N. Lee Street, consists of 2.75 acres and is closed for burials/historic.
John Lewis Beard had his daughter buried on his home property around 1755 because there were no public burying grounds at that time. In order to protect her resting place for years to come, he deeded a tract of land to the German Lutheran Church for the purpose of establishing a church and graveyard. His daughter’s body was moved to the cemetery, thus becoming the first cemetery in Salisbury. A little frame church was erected shortly after 1768 near the grave of Beard’s daughter and soon other graves appeared. There are Revolutionary and Confederate soldiers buried there along with many leading families of Rowan: Beard, Henderson, Caldwell, Brown, Murphy, Hamilton, Fisher, Locke, Boyden, Chambers, Troy and numerous others. St. John’s Lutheran Church deeded the property to the City in 1980.
The Confederate statue “FAME” that had stood in a median at the corner of W. Innes and Church Streets in Salisbury for more than 100 years was moved to its permanent home in the Old Lutheran Cemetery in July 2021. She is surrounded by an iron fence and overlooks the graves of the soldiers for which she was originally created.
Famous Internment:
Boyden, Nathaniel
b. August 16, 1796 d. November 20, 1873
U.S. Congressman. Taking the call at the advent of the War of 1812, he enlisted at age 16 and served as a Private in the US Army. After the war, he graduated from Union College, New York, in 1821, moved to North Carolina, in 1822, taught school for several years, studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Stokes County. He was a member of the North Carolina State House of Commons, (1838-40) and served in the North Carolina State Senate in 1844. In 1847, he was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth Congress, serving until 1849. Not a candidate for re-nomination, he resumed the practice of law and was a member of the North Carolina State constitutional convention of 1865. Upon the readmission of North Carolina to the Union for representation, he was elected as a Conservative to the Fortieth Congress, serving (1868-69). After his term, he was elected associate justice of the supreme court of North Carolina in 1872 and served until his death at age 77.