A ceremony in Charlotte on Wednesday celebrated the transfer of a piece of land where newly freed slaves built a church and cemetery. The consecrated land has now returned to its descendants and those with ties to the church.
More than two dozen people walk through the leaves at Grier Heights Cemetery off Wendover Road. Wayne Johnson, 72, was among them. Johnson blew leaves away before everyone arrived for the ceremony. He is vice president of the St. Lloyd’s Presbyterian Cemetery Foundation.
The group is leading efforts to preserve the sacred land. It has been working with Thompson Child and Family Focus to transfer the land to the foundation.
Johnson, along with other members of the foundation, celebrated the transfer of the site Wednesday with community members, pastors, and Mecklenburg County representatives. The occasion left Johnson momentarily speechless and in tears.
“Words can’t describe it,” Johnson said. "Nobody can take your home.”
Danny Whitley, chief facilities officer with Thompson Child and Family Focus, said the organization purchased the land in 2012 and renovated two buildings on the property to run its community support programs.
Johnson said they had been working with the foundation for several years to make the transfer happen and recently signed off on the last bit of paperwork about three months ago.
“Our mission at Thompson is to serve people and not just children, but children and families,” Whitley said. "Knowing that there are families in the community and that their loved ones are back there, ancestors are back there, it was just the right thing to do. To be a part of that and work through that with them.”
The first St. Lloyd Presbyterian Church Cemetery was established in South Park in the 1860s. A group of African Americans petitioned to form their own church. According to research from Mecklenburg County, members of Sharon Presbyterian Church spoke with church leaders to assist them in creating their own church. The Rev. Julie Bird, one of the pastors at Sharon Presbyterian, reflected on that history.
"It's a mixed feeling to be honest because we recognize the time in which that transition happened was a very difficult time for the history of this area,” Bird said. "We recognize the challenges that our African American siblings faced during that time, but we also are delighted to have as part of our history an opportunity to help that particular community begin a congregation of their own where they could worship, celebrate, and claim a very distinctive identity in the community."
After establishing the initial church in the SouthPark area, members later founded another church formed off Wendover Road. Genora Allison Fant attended the church in the 1950s.
"It was a place of learning, and it was warm and welcoming. It was like family, everyone was close and everyone tried to guide you,” Fant said. "For me, it's a place of remembrance, and more work needs to be done. It's a place of honor for our relatives here and hope for the future for what the cemetery can become.”
Wednesday's event also featured County Commissioner Mark Jerrell. "These [are] our people who built this community,” Jerrell said. "They came and built the foundation for what we see today, and we can never forget that.”
The foundation plans to place markers and signs so people can learn about the site's history.
