THE OLD WASHINGTON CHURCH CEMETERY This cemetery is located in No. 5 Township, Cleveland County, N.C. 9 miles east of Shelby, and about 3 miles south of Waco, N.C. and on the lands of Mills Clines, formerly the Dameron property, on south side of the road leading from Shelby to Waco. It is near Stony Point. Owner of Cemetery: Mills Cline Number of marked graves: 24 Unmarked graves: 300 Earliest marked grave: David Harmon, d. Oct. 17, 1827 Condition: The cemetery is abandoned and is grown up in second-growth timber; but the markers are still standing and undisturbed with one or two exceptions. Date of survey: March 28, 1939 [Workers: None listed] The Old Washington Church Cemetery has been abandoned many years apparently. Prior to the Civil War, a Methodist church stood here and it was used by the white people for a buying ground. Then it was taken over by the colored people and used by them for a buying ground. In fact, the colored people had a church here bearing the same name as the white church-Washington. However, the colored people have moved their church about one mile northeast of the old site on a road leading [to] Waco. This colored church is probably one of the largest rural colored churches in Cleveland County. We have contacted one of the former colored pastors of the church-Rev. W. A. Roberts, age 70 a landowner, and well thought of by both white and blacks. He says the late Rev. Benjamin F. Roberts his father, was one time pastor of the Washington Colored Church for three years. He also stated that the well-known Thomas Dixon, a great white Baptist preacher, used to go out there and preach occasionally for the colored people. There are two sections in the cemetery covering about two acres-one for the white people and one for the colored. From what we could learn there are about as many white people as colored here. The white section of the graveyard lies near the road while the colored graves are farther out in the wood. Inscriptions: Harmon, Racheal D. Nov. 28, 1840 Aged: 70 years Harmon, Sarah D. Sept. 1, 1846 Aged: 65 years (Member, Eastern Star) Harmon, David D. Oct. 17, 1827 Aged: 41 years (Earliest marked grave.) Harmon, Richard D. Oct. 16, 1827 Aged: 18 years Harmon, Sarah N. D. Mar. 4, 1846 Aged: 2 years, 4 months Grigg, Mary N. J. D. Aug. 28, 1856 Aged: 5 years, 9 months Costner, Saroha [per text] D. June 28, 1854 Aged: 27 years, 11 mos., 23 days Ford, John A. D. Nov. 20, 1847 Aged: 50 years Costner, Fanny D. Sept. 1, 1847 Aged: 4 days Putman, Drury D. (Obscure) D. Sept. 11, 1831 Aged: 2 years Putman, William D. Oct. 4, 1853 Aged: 35 years (Stone on ground.) Putman, Quince D. June 26, 1854 Aged: 2 years, 15 days Costner, Mary Jane D. Nov. 7, 1848 Aged: 11 years, 2 days Long, Thomas D. Aug. 18, 1848 Aged: 19 years Chandler, Oliver E. D. Oct. 5, 1840 Aged: 2 years, 5 days Chandler, Mary D. Sept. 5, 1849 Aged: 2 years Chandler, Sarah B. D. Jan. 11, 1854 Aged: 2 years, 6 months Grigg, Sarah E. D. July 2, 1854 Aged: 1 year, 6 days Borders, Ottee Charl, wife of Wilson Boarders D. May 23, 1888 Aged: 65 years Wray, Charles D. May 1884 [No other data] Wray, Eiza (Col.) D. 1900 Mauney, Sallie (Col.), daughter of Charles & M. Mauney B. April 5, 1884 D. July 5, 1884 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This cemetery is among the many Cleveland cemeteries included on the Cleveland Count WPA Cemeteries CD, copyrighted 2008, by Ann K. Propst and Derick S. Hartshorn. All listings and cemeteries listings were made prior to 1940 and represents the conditions of that time. All information has been donated to the NCGenWeb Project but authors retain copyright protection under law. It may be referenced and briefly exerpted under the universal fair use doctrine. For a copy of the complete Cleveland County WPA Cemetery Survey CD, see http://www.hartshorn.us/CWPA.htm