Wake County North Carolina Cemeteries Other NC County Cemeteries

238    RALEIGH CITY CEMETERY [OLD]   -   Surname starts with Q

Location - between New Bern Ave. and E. Hargett St. and bounded on the west by S. East St. in Raleigh; two blocks east of Moore Square.

Coordinates: 35d 46m 45.0s N; 78d 37m 51.0s W Click here for Online Maps

City Cemetery (sometimes referred to as "Old City Cemetery") was established by an Act of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1798.. It was set up on four acres of land of which two acres were reserved for the burial of local residents, one acre for visitors, and one acre for blacks, both slave and free. The cemetery, which was originally outside the city limits, grew to 7.68 acres and is now in the heart of Raleigh. The section reserved for blacks, according to tradition, is full, but tombstones are sparse. In 1872 Mt. Hope Cemetery was established as a cemetery for blacks as a replacement. Records of City Cemetery were destroyed by fire in the 1890's and again in the early 1930's. At one time City Cemetery was the only public burying ground for either blacks or whites in Raleigh. The City Cemetery is surrounded by an iron fence that once was located at the State Capitol.

Click here to view a slide show of several scenes in the City Cemetery.

View #2 of the cemetery. View #3 of the cemetery. View #4 of the cemetery. View #1 of the cemetery fence. View #2 of the cemetery fence. Bronze plaque honoring John Rex, who provided funds and land to establish Rex Hospital in 1839. Granite stone inscribed with the names of over 40 Historic Grave Sites. African-American marker placed by City of Raleigh.

The basic cemetery record was made available through the generosity of Raleigh Parks and Recreation, Cemetery Division. In addition www.PoliticalGraveyard.com, www.DocSouth.unc.edu, www.FamousAmericans.net and .wikipedia.org were explored by Shirley Olson for additional information. All the available records (over 4000) were consolidated and combined into this current listing by Allen Dew.

Additional information was discovered by Shirley in records at Olivia Raney Library. The " 1939 Tombstone Records Compiled by Daughters of American Colonists" was a valuable source. Clippings and obituaries from "The Raleigh News & Observer" ; "The Raleigh Register"; "The Raleigh Times" and "Raleigh Minerva", provided additional and supporting information. Articles by Fred Olds, Mrs. Bruce Carter and Elizabeth Norris were reviewed and compared with existing information. A brief article by "WPA in 1942" was also looked at. Several Family Histories were consulted. Many of the tombstone photos were contributed by Lucia Finley. To all of these sources we say : "Thank you". If anyone has been omitted it is unintentional and you are invited to contribute.

A partial "walk through" of the cemetery was done in August, 2007, to read headstones and confirm or correct errors of record. This is a work in progress which may never be completely finished. Lost or destroyed records, conflicting birth and death dates, and misspelled names are some of the stumbling blocks. Additional research will be undertaken and we invite readers to contribute their personal records of City Cemetery Burials.

Shirley Olson



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1. Q, NONE