The JHA hosted an event on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022 at the town cemetery located on Howard Street. Nearly 100 volunteers gathered at the site to install historically appropriate stone markers over the previously unmarked graves. As part of the collaboration with JHA, App State Archaeology Professor Alice Wright and other members of the Anthropology Department have participated in several projects to help build on the recorded history of the Junaluska community.

The oral histories of Junaluska confirmed that many Black members of the community were buried at the cemetery. Until 2015, a fence separated the property into two based on segregating the Black and white sections, leaving the unmarked graves of members of the Junaluska community on the outskirts of the cemetery, Wright said. After requests from the JHA, the town of Boone worked to extend the fencing and install a stone recognizing the Black community, according to the JHA.

In 2017, the town commissioned a ground-penetrating radar survey to identify where the grave markings should be place,. From there, a lot of collaboration was required to get the project together, Wright said. In 2017, a marker reading “Historic Black Cemetery” was placed at the former division line of the property.

John Callahan from App State’s Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences assisted in identifying which stones were most local. Town of Boone Director of Cultural Resources Mark Freed helped the project team get permission to dump rock and collected sod and the Historic Preservation Commission approved the historically accurate markings.

On the day of the grave marking installations, App State students with a variety of academic focuses volunteered to place them. An area of sod was removed from the ground around the graves and markings were placed in the holes created on top of a gravel layer. Volunteers then used more gravel to fill in edges to ensure grass does not grow on the markings.

Wright anticipated the project would take three to four hours, but with the number of volunteers, it was complete in a little more than an hour. She said the volunteers were “amazing” and committed to preserving the Junaluska’s community’s history.

“This isn’t my history, this is Junaluska’s history. It’s really not my intention to be a part of it, it’s my intention to make sure that their history gets preserved from them and their descendants,” William Becker, first-year journalism student said. “I’m very happy to be here and to help with this but I know how important this is to the community so ultimately, I’m just happy to be able to help.”

Wright said she has collaborated with the JHA for about two years ,which has included leading students to look for remains of Troy Councill’s homes, which was off what is now Junaluska Road. Troy Councill was a Black farmer with 30 to 40 acres of land, according to the JHA. Through their findings and archival records, they believe they found an early 20th century farmstead that was a later iteration of Councill’s place of residence.

This past summer, Wright’s Archeology Principles class excavated a site adjacent to the previous location of the historic Chocolate Bar, a Junaluska social club in the 1940s and 1950s, according the the JHA.

“It’s an opportunity for me as a friend to people in the community and JHA members to learn about the history of this place, to build neighborly relationships, to help other people learn about the history of this place. This is like the best part of my job,” Wright said. “It’s been incredibly fulfilling, there’s a lot to learn. I think there’s so much more we can learn.”

Wright said she does “not see the collaboration ending anytime soon” and will continue to use “shovels and an idiosyncratic set of skills” to assist the JHA.

Narrative and photograph source: By Jillyan Mobley/ Mountain Times News- Nov 2, 2022 Updated Dec 7, 2023.
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Inscription on marker in image: This is the site of the Black cemetery which began as a burial ground for slaves of local landowner and storekeeper Jordan Councill. Since 1956, most members of the local Black community have been buried at Clarissa Hill Cemetery, west of the town. Most black graves at this historic site went unmarked, but records indicate the following people were buried here.

Fannie Horton, 1864-1904 • Annie Wilcatcher Horton, 1915-1915 • Dickson Horton, 1915-1915 • Bose Edna Horton Moore, 1895-1915 • Jennie Hagler, 1916-1916 • Baby Grimes, 1917-1917 • Polly Grimes, 1827-1917 • Mary Hagler, 1917-1917 • Richard Shearer, 1900-1918 • Beverley Williams, 1843-1918 • Mary Elizabeth Horton, 1920-1920 • Augustus Horton, 1853-1921 • James Horton, 1900-1924 • Jerry Lenoir, 1836-1924 • Donald Horton, 1916-1923 • David Grimes, 1924-1924 • Wallace Horton, 1923-1924 • Unknown female, 1870-1930 • Clearcy Cornwall, 1841-1932 • Ralph Horton, 1904-1932 • Cora Hagler Grimes, 1888-1933 • Mary Caroline Grimes, 1933-1933 • Mary L. Grimes Patterson, 1913-1933 • Kelly Horton, 1859-1934 • Steve Horton, 1897-1934 • Burl Horton, 1912-1935 • John Logan Grimes, 1850-1936 • Jordan Miller, 1900-1936 • Victoria Hagler Horton, 1883-1936 • Wiley Folk, 1862-1936 • Elizabeth Anderson Grimes, 1917-1936 • John Hudson, 1912-1936 • William Whittington, Jr., 1927-1937 • Sonny Boy Coles, 1937-1938 • Bettie Grimes Horton, 1879-1938 • Charlie Shearer, 1895-1938

June Horton, 1871-1939 • Riley William Horton, 1872-1941 • Daisy Mae Kirkpatrick, 1941-1941 • Annie Turner Anderson, 1905-1942 • Rev. Coy N. Williams, 1899-1943 • Jennie Folk McNeal, 1887-1946 • Mary Helen Conrad, 1945-1947 • Mary Diana Grimes, 1947-1947 • Jack Grimes, 1877-1948 • Gwendolyn Cosette Hagler, 1946-1948 • Carl Kirkpatrick, 1939-1949 • David Lee Clayburn, Sr., 1904-1950 • Louise Shearer Grimes, 1903-1950 • Bessie Horton Jones, 1892-1952 • John Jones, 1887-1952 • Salvadora Shearer Adams, 1914-1953 • Nealie Shearer Folk, 1879-1953 • Maggie Barnes Grimes, 1879-1953 • Mary Horton Lenoir, 1865-1953 • Robert Albert Williams, 1899-1953 • John Adams, 1893-1954 • Baby Goins, 1954-1954 • Granville Jackson, 1890-1954 • Bobby McQueen, 1955-1955 • Nealie Grimes Williams, 1868-1957 • John Grimes, 1876-1958 • Nellie Colleen Hagler, 1858-1958 • Lizzie Anna Roberts Goins, 1876-1962 • Augusta Jackson, 1900-1989 • Clearency Councill, 1840-1923 • and others known only to God

Erected 2017 by Junaluska Heritage Association and friends.
Location. 36° 12.901′ N, 81° 40.638′ W. Marker is in Boone, North Carolina, in Watauga County. It can be reached from Howard Street west of Brown Street, on the left when traveling west.
Marker is at or near this postal address: 614 Howard St, Boone NC 28607, United States of America.

Source: Historical Marker Database