Cross Creek Cemetery is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

located in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-Ameri ...

, near a creek of that name that "meanders for more than a mile from downtown Fayetteville to the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a blackwater river in east-central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River in the town of ...

." It was established in 1785. The cemetery is organized into five numbered sections and is managed by a cemetery office within Fayetteville–Cumberland County Parks & Recreation.

History

The original section, known as Cross Creek Cemetery Number One was established in 1785 and expanded in 1833. It contains approximately 1,170 gravemarkers dating from 1786 to 1964.This cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Fayetteville. After the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

ended, the Ladies' Memorial Association of Fayetteville had all soldiers who had been killed in battle—along with those who had died and been buried in various nearby locations—interred (or re-interred) in Cross Creek Cemetery. The group then raised the funds to erect a Confederate Soldiers Monument in Cross Creek, the first Confederate monument in North Carolina; it was dedicated on December 30, 1868. In 1915, the Cross Creek Cemetery Commission was created via an act of the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

, providing for the maintenance of the cemetery. Cross Creek Cemetery #1 was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in September 1998 as a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

. In June 2010, "more than fifty headstones were damaged and in disarray" in Cross Creek Cemetery #1, following a report of vandalism.

Notable burials

;Politicians * J. Bayard Clark,

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

(1929–49) *

James C. Dobbin James Cochran Dobbin (January 17, 1814 – August 4, 1857) was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer who served as United States Secretary of the Navy from 1853 to 1857. Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1814, the grandson of co ...

United States Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On Mar ...

(1853–57) * Wharton J. Green,

(1883–87) * Edward J. Hale, United States Ambassador to Costa Rica (1913–17) * John G. Shaw,

(1895–1897) * Charles Manly Stedman, Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina (1885–89) and

(1911–30) * Warren Winslow, Speaker of the North Carolina Senate (1854–55) and

(1855–61) ;Others * Robert Adam (1759–1801), merchant and first captain of the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry * Elliot Daingerfield (1859–1932), artist

References

External links

Photographs of Cross Creek Cemetery
from the NCSU Libraries * {{Authority control Geography of Fayetteville, North Carolina Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Confederate States of America cemeteries 1785 establishments in North Carolina Geography of Cumberland County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, North Carolina Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina