Elmwood

According to the Mecklenburg County Historic Landmarks Commission, “Elmwood Cemetery is a property that possesses local historic significance as one of the oldest and largest public cemeteries in Charlotte and as a reflection of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s nineteenth-and-twentieth-century cultural heritage. The cemetery, a 72-acre plot of rolling green space in the heart of Charlotte, first opened in 1853. The graves of important Charlotte-Mecklenburg citizens… alongside the thousands of others who lived, worked, worshipped and died in Mecklenburg County, make Elmwood an important historical and cultural resource. The intricacies of the gravestones themselves, the arrangement of family members within a plot and of plots within the cemetery, all give clues to the values and beliefs of specific persons within the Charlotte community and of the community as a whole.” For more detailed information, click here.​​ ​

Pinewood

According to the Mecklenburg County Historic Landmarks Commission, 9th Street Pinewood Cemetery included plots available only to African Americans. Originally no roads connected Elmwood and Pinewood Cemeteries. African-Americans used an entrance on 9th Street to enter Pinewood Cemetery, which had no paved streets, no peripheral fencing and no curbs or gutters. In the 1930s, a fence was erected between Pinewood and Elmwood, standing as both a physical barrier between the burial grounds and as a symbol of racial discrimination in the community.

In the late 1960s, empowered by the successes of the Civil Rights movement, African-American Charlotteans began a crusade to have the city voluntarily remove the fence. Leading the fight was Fred Alexander, Charlotte’s first African-American city councilman. Alexander fought opposition in the City Council until January 1969 when Mayor Stan R. Brookshire cast a tie-breaking vote for removal of the fence. Roads now connect Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery, which can be accessed from 6th Street or 9th Street. A remnant of the fence is still visible at the cemetery’s eastern end. For more detailed information, click here.​​ ​

Settlers’

According to the Mecklenburg County Historic Landmarks Commission, Charlotte was established in 1768 by settlers who were, for the most part, Scots-Irish Presbyterians. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, a church was built in “town” to be used by all denominations. Presbyterian minister John Thomson is said to have preached “in the blacksmith’s grove” (now the grounds of First Presbyterian Church across Fifth Street from the cemetery) as early as the 1750’s. As was the custom, a graveyard was laid off adjacent to the church to be used as a common burying ground for the town of Charlotte. Settlers’ Cemetery is still owned by the City of Charlotte. For more detailed information, click here.