Center Grove AME Zion Cemetery, Site #1

This cemetery was near an early Mecklenburg County poor house. Some researchers believe the dead were victims of the Charlotte small pox epidemic in 1896. ON 4/16/1954, 28 African-Americans remains were moved by the Board of School Commissioners from this cemetery to Sec. B, Row #11 in Pinewood North. One oral history recently revealed that around 1915-1919, some of this cemetery was paved over with the city's knowledge. Efforts are being made to determine if there is any link between these deceased and the slaves of Rosedale and surrounding farms.

Documentation

(1) Report by Lois Yandle in the Carolina Room

(2) Articles in The Charlotte News, 3-10-1954; 9-20-1982.

(3) Comprehensive Genealogical Services 2002 report by June Marie White

(4) Spirit of a Proud People by Lois Moore Yandle, 1997