Back Creek Baptist Church Cemetery

Locality:
Realty Map:
USGS Map:
Grid Locus:
UTM Easting:
UTM Northing:

Roanoke County
97.03-1-18
Garden City
A-8
588800
4115530

Temporal Period:
Cultural Affiliation:
Landform:
Elevation:
Aspect:

20 th century
African-American
Ridge top
1340 feet
Northeast

Site Dimensions: 110 by 200 feet

Survey Description: Site consists of a large church cemetery with at least 95 graves. The identified graves included six with inscribed granite markers, 21 with metal markers (two illegible), 19 with uninscribed fieldstone markers, and at least 49 unmarked graves observable as ground surface depressions. Other graves may exist. Observed graves ranged in orientation from northeast through southeast. Deteriorated remnants of a wood post and wire mesh fence were observed at the cemetery. The site is covered with a young growth of pines. Historic plantings include yucca and periwinkle groundcover. Site was field inspected, photographed, and grave marker inscriptions were transcribed. Site size was derived from local realty maps.

Survey Date: 11/98

Field Notes: _x_Yes ___No
Photographs: _x_Yes ___No

References: None

Additional Comments: Assigned temporal period was based on the 1922 through 1996 range of death dates inscribed on observed headstones. However, the presence of uninscribed fieldstone markers and unmarked graves may reflect an earlier use of the site. The cemetery is not marked on the USGS Garden City map sheet. It is marked on local realty maps, but it is not labeled as a cemetery.

Marker Inscriptions:


Mr. Thomas E.
Brown
1921 1986
(metal marker)


Mr. Kevin L.
Brown
1965 1996
(metal marker)


George Wright
(metal marker)




Mrs. Mary White
1881 1959
(metal marker)

Mrs. Girlie H.
White
1963 1992
(metal marker)


Mrs. Rosa L. Ellis
1930 1959
(metal marker)



Mrs. Lena D.
Wright
1907 1985
(metal marker)


Mrs. Gertie C.
Alleyne
1936 1964
(metal marker)

Mr. Michael A.
Brown
1960 1992
(metal marker)


Mr. Dred Wright
1868 1952
(metal marker)



Marie B.
Wright
1916 1975
(metal marker)


Al Taylor
Jan. 15, 1866
Aug. 8, 1946
(metal marker)


94


Back Creek Baptist Church Cemetery (continued)


Joseph Childress
Sept. 17, 1892
May 29, 1922
Aged 30 Yrs.
He is at rest in Heaven.
(footstone: JC)


Mrs. Bessie F.
Wright
1910 1966
(metal marker)


Mr. Harrison F.
Hale
1895 1958
(metal marker)




Mrs. Alice M.
Barnette
1894 1962
(metal marker)


Mr. Eddie
Smith
1902 1984
(metal marker)

Richard Simmons
(sunken granite marker)






Mr. Daniel M.
Hale
1916 1985
(metal marker)


Lucinda E. Francis
May 26, 1883
Feb. 4, 1959
Thy memory shall ever be.
A guiding star to heaven.
(footstone: LEF)


Richard L. Wright
Virginia
PFC US Army
Feb 18 1941 April 30 1971

Mrs. Betty A.
Johnson
1882 1970
(metal marker)




Mr. Glenn H.
Hale
1914 1982
(metal marker)


Barbara J. Francis
Nov. 11, 1936
Oct. 19, 1956
How many hopes lie
Buried here.
(footstone: BJF)


M. Louis
Barnette
1920 1994
(metal marker)

95

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