User:Craziedaizie/sandbox

History
Originally part of the MacDowell property, the land for the South Asheville Cemetery was deeded to a former slave, George Avery. George Avery had originally been enslaved by the MacDowell family, but he was sent north to fight in the war by the MacDowells. He received the deed upon his return from the war.

Later the surrounding neighborhood would come to be called South Asheville, a predominantly black neighborhood. This area, after being absorbed by the City of Asheville, would be broken up into several neighborhoods, including Kennilworth and Shiloh. The area was served at the time by two churches St. John “A” Baptist and St. Mark AME, a Methodist congregation. The South Asheville cemetery was one of a few cemeteries in the area serving African Americans, it being one of a few exclusively African American.

Present
The cemetery, originally under the purview of St. Mark AME, was undertaken by George Avery. Part of the cemetery was allotted specifically to St. Mark’s congregants, but for a fee, any South Asheville community member could be buried in the South Asheville Cemetery. The cemetery was closed after the City of Asheville annexed the South Asheville neighborhood and the last person, Robert L. Watkans, was interred in 1943.

After the South Asheville Cemetery was closed it fell into disrepair. It was brought back to the public’s attention in the early '80s when a series of recordings, now housed at the UNC Asheville Special Collections Library, composed of oral histories documented the history of the cemetery and the surrounding neighborhoods. Since then many volunteer groups have come to help the members of the South Asheville/Kennilworth neighborhood restore their cemetery. The groups include AmeriCorps, University of North Carolina Asheville, and most recently a group of students from Warren Wilson College.