Historic Friendship Chapel Baptist Church Cemetery
Historic Friendship Chapel Baptist Church Cemetery
Client
Location
Services Performed
Findings
GPR survey and mapping of the Friendship Cemetery resulting in the identification of an estimated total of 567 burials, both marked and unmarked. New South Associates also researched and prepared a Story Map outlining the history of the cemetery and the Historic Friendship Chapel Missionary Baptist Church.
New South Associates conducted a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the historic Friendship Chapel Baptist Church Cemetery, Wake County, North Carolina. The purpose of the survey was to identify and map unmarked graves, grave markers, and collapsed grave depressions to establish a cemetery boundary. Approximately 400 individual marked and unmarked graves were identified on the basis of surface features. The GPR identified a total of 277 possible graves in the surveyed areas and the outline of one possible unmarked mass burial. Of the possible graves, 167 were not indicated with markers, fieldstones, or collapsed grave depressions. Between geophysical and surface survey an estimated total of 567 individuals were identified in the cemetery.
Working with oral histories collected by the church, New South Associates developed an interactive story-map outlining the history of the cemetery and the Historic Friendship Chapel Missionary Baptist Church from its founding in 1867 to the church community today. The story map shows the landscape of the cemetery; illustrates the monuments, including interesting homemade burial markers; and connects to the oral history interviews collected by the church.
Award
Wake County’s 2017 Anthemion Award for excellence in historic preservation of the Friendship Chapel Baptist Church (2017)
The North Carolina Museum Council’s Award of Excellence for the Friendship Baptist Church project (2017)