Orange County NC Website
10 <br /> Site of First Church and Cemetery (Photos 15-23, Map 3, Survey 1): <br /> The historic site of the first Harvey's Chapel is located on a broad high ridge in a forested <br /> area, approximately 0.5 miles west of the western boundary of the Moorefields property <br /> (OR0010), surrounded by creeks on three sides: Seven Mile Creek to the north, Crabtree <br /> Creek to the east, and Watson's Creek to the west. Visible remains of the small frame <br /> chapel built c. 1901 are provided by the remarkable survival of a distinct rectangular <br /> pattern of stone foundation piers for a structure measuring approximately 16' wide by 20' <br /> deep (photos 20-22).2 The foundation stones also show the outline of a small rectangular <br /> entrance porch or vestibule at the west or front end, facing the old road that ran north- <br /> south along the ridge. A portion of an old cast-iron wood stove that once heated the old <br /> church lies in the woods nearby. Small white quartz rocks of a type commonly found <br /> throughout this section of the county are arranged in parallel lines to outline two distinct <br /> paths leading from the road—one to the church and the other to the old cemetery, located <br /> just to the north of the old church. These site features are shown in more detail in a 2019 <br /> survey plat(Survey 1).' <br /> The prominent geographic location of the site suggests that it may have been a ritual <br /> gathering place for indigenous peoples as well as members of nearby enslaved black <br /> communities before the founding of the church.'The clear waters of nearby Crabtree <br /> Creek provided a convenient location for regular baptism ceremonies.5 Graves in the <br /> cemetery are primarily unmarked; the date of the earliest burial is unknown. The <br /> cemetery contains at least 40 burials that are identifiable by plain fieldstones placed at the <br /> head and sometimes also at the foot. At least three burials are marked by traditional small <br /> metal funeral home markers for local funeral homes: one of these is for"Forrest and <br /> Forrest, Efland" and another reads "Walker's Funeral Home" (photo 19)which was an <br /> established business in Hillsborough in the early decades of the 201h century. There are <br /> numerous additional unmarked depressions of the correct size for a simple burial, aligned <br /> in regular rows, indicating that there are as many as 100 burials or more. This large <br /> number suggests that this may have been an existing burial ground prior to the <br /> congregation's purchase of the land in 1892---or that other nearby families may have <br /> buried relatives in the cemetery in addition to those directly associated with.the small <br /> 2 The congregation first built a temporary log structure, which they replaced in 1901 with <br /> a more permanent frame chapel. Interview with Harold Russell, descendent of founding <br /> trustee John Wesley Thompson, by Rachel Cotterman, 10/21/2016. <br /> 3 Orange County Plat Book 120, page 172. <br /> 4 Interview with Dr. Arwin Smallwood,professor of History and Political Science at NC <br /> A&T, 12/21/2016 by Rachel Cottcrman. <br /> 5 Interview with.Harold Russell, 10/21/2016 <br /> 4 <br />