FEATURE PAGE
October 31, 2019

VANISHING EPITAPHS

Walking around Old Smithfield on a beautiful Monday afternoon this week of Halloween (to be followed on Sunday by All Saints Day), I was drawn into historic RIVERSIDE CEMETERY, for no particular reason. Entering near the corner of Front and Church streets into the oldest part of the cemetery that dates back to Smithfield's founding in the late 1700s, I was struck by the sad state of numerous tombstones.

Some had either fallen over or were broken into pieces; many others had weathered to the point that the names and dates etched into the stone had withered away. Of those I could read, the dates of death extended as far back as the mid-1800s.

Here's a sampling of what I found:
A close-up shot (right) of this broken tombstone tells us it's the grave of a mother and her baby who died at childbirth in 1878.



This half-fallen tombstone is for a baby
three months old who died in 1849.


The missing top of this tombstone
rests against a nearby tree.

This tombstone, made of wood,
long ago lost its identity.




Not neglected but still mostly unknown are 25 flagged graves of Confederate soldiers who were buried here following the Battle of Bentonville in 1865. The only one with an identifying tombstone (right) is for Private Andrew J. Roberts. Genealogists and historians have tried in vain over the years to identify the other Unknown Soldiers of Riverside Cemetery.
What's to become of all this?
Besides the graves with weathered and toppled tombstones pictured above, the oldest section of Riverside appears to have grassy plots of totally unmarked graves. It's sad to see such neglect of those forgotten
residents of Old Smithfield. --- Wingate Lassiter