Wake County North Carolina Cemeteries Other NC County Cemeteries

314    WAKE COUNTY POOR FARM CEMETERY (1824-1915)

Location - behind Brooks Elementary School at 700 Northbrook Dr in the North Hills section of Raleigh.

Coordinates: 35d 50m 48.4s N; 78d 39m 15.0s W Click here for Online Maps

Thanks to David Amos and Peter Knowles for helping to document this cemetery.

The Wake County Poor Farm operated from 1824 to 1915 behind what is now Brooks Elementary School at 700 Northbrook Drive in Raleigh. So certainly a lot of people were buried there in over 200 years. Being a pauper cemetery, there are no tombstones, but a careful search of the area will show pairs of stones that are certainly grave markers. Olivia Raney History library has about a dozen death certificates from people buried in that cemetery.

There is a lot of interest in this cemetery because it was the Wake County Poor Farm, and there are people who suspect they have an ancestor buried there.

There is a graveyard behind Brooks Elementary School. It is located in what is called Brooks Nature Park located off Rampart Street. Rampart runs up the east side of the school in North Hills Sudivision. The graves are marked with stones. There have been some stones piled up, but others remain in place. The graves are located in a thicket in the northeast area of the property behind the first several houses on the left after you pass the school parking area on Rampart. No one at the school seems to know anything about the cemetery. The school has been there since 1963 or 1964.