190 Unmarked Graves Found at Historic Black Cemetery in North Charlotte

Ground-scanning equipment revealed 190 unmarked burial sites at Siloam Presbyterian Church Cemetery in north Charlotte. This finding marks a breakthrough in the four-year push to fix up the old Black burial grounds.

Seramur and Associates ran scans on Oct. 24, pinpointing the graves along Ridge Road. Since the 1890s, this ground has held the remains of freed slaves and their children.

Paula Williams leads the cemetery's cleanup project, sparked by the site's poor state. "I basically said to my great-great-grandparents, 'We've never met before, but I'm going to do everything within my power to clean the cemetery up,'" Williams said per WCNC.

The site links deeply to Black community roots. Frank Lee and Amanda Lee, Williams' ancestors, owned vast tracts around it - 400 acres in total. What's now Siloam Church Road started as Frank Lee Road.

Charlotte's Presbyterian Church stepped up to save the grounds. They put in fences, added signs, and kept the grass cut. However, fallen trees keep causing damage to the site.

Denise Turner, whose kin rest at Siloam, questions past burial methods. "I don't know how things were done back then, but it just appears that when someone is placed in a grave, that those graves should have been marked at that time," Turner said, according to WFAE.

Fire took the first Siloam Presbyterian Church in 1958. Built in 1893, it was close to these grounds. Now, workers dig through records to map out who lies beneath the soil.

The site needs help from local families. Old papers, death records, birth dates - any scrap might help name the souls in unmarked plots.

Got info about family buried at Siloam? Call (980) 224-3440 or write to siloam1958@gmail.com.