Title

Creator

Subject

Subject

Keyword: cemeteries ; burial customs ; undertakers

Description

Mrs. Mapp remembers her father's burial in the South Asheville Colored Cemetery.  She tells a little about her father and about life in Asheville during the Depression.  She describes the road going into and out of the cemetery at that time.

Publisher

D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, NC, 28804

Contributor

Date

Electronic Record Issued: 2001-07-31

Type

Sound ; Text

Format

Identifier

Source

OH 90.1: South Asheville Colored Cemetery Oral History Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804

Language

English

Relation

Heritage of Black Highlanders Collection

Coverage

Acquisition

Donor number: 138 ;  Date of acquisition: 1990-05-02

Processed By

Interview Date

List of Names

Abstract:

DEE: Mrs. Mapp, would you please give the name of and relationship of the person you know is buried at the South Asheville Colored Cemetery.

MRS. MAPP: His name was David B. Shields, and he was my father.

Dee: The year he was buried in the cemetery was March 15, 1937.  Would you tell us what you remember about the rites at the cemetery or the ceremony that took place at the cemetery during your fathers burial.

MS. MAPP: Well, you could tell that the cemetery was not well kept up then but, I imagine that my mother chose this cemetery through Mr. Allen, because it was a cheaper place to be buried. I remember that my father was buried near the largest tree out there. He didn't have a marker. The cemetery director didn't have a little marker to mark it with, so I remembered by the big tree. It was a nice cemetery, but not very well kept though.

DEE: Were there any songs sung at the cemetery or just the ceremony in terms of prayer?   Was it pretty much traditional, or does anything stand out in your mind that would make it different or that you especially remember happened during the ceremonies at the cemetery?

MRS. MAPP: No, I can't think of anything that was any different than the regular procedures that they use now, you know, the prayers and the committing of the body to the ground. There wasn't anything different or anything unusual.

DEE: Can you remember which way or which road Mr. Allen's hearse came into the cemetery? Was it the road going to the right of the cemetery or the one on the upper level left? We've been told that it depended on which way the hearse went as to where the grave site was. I understand that at one time there were two ways to enter the cemetery.

MRS. MAPP: Well, as far as I can remember, seems like we went in from the left side and then when we came out there was a road that came all the way through to the main road.

DEE: We had heard that the road went all the way through. I'm glad that you verified that point for us, the fact that you didn't have to back up to get out of the cemetery.

MRS. MAPP: No we didn't have to back up because it was a through road, and you could go all the way around that road and come back into the highway, which was, was that Sweeten Creek Road?

DEE: Was it Dalton Street?

MRS. MAPP: That's right, it was Dalton Street, where St. John A. Church sits.

DEE: Another thing Mrs. Mapp, would you tell us something about your father. We are interested in getting some personal histories to sort of put together with the people who we find are buried in the South Asheville Cemetery. Would you tell us something about your father's life in terms of what he did while he was alive here in Asheville, the things he enjoyed, just some personal notes to let us know who David B. Shields was.

MRS. MAPP: Well, when he first came here from South Carolina, he got a job at Oteen. We had relatives working there already. Work was hard to find at that time. When Oteen started laying off, well, he was one of the ones that was laid off. Then he became a painter. He was very active in the church. He was a Deacon at Mt. Olive Church. He was also the organizer of, well, I would say a "do re me" choir. He just loved to sing, and that was really a part of him, singing.  He enjoyed it very much.

DEE: Do you know any other people that were buried in the South Asheville Colored Cemetery?

MRS. MAPP: No, I don't know of any other people buried there. I had other relatives who passed away while they were here in Asheville, but they were carried back to their home church in South Carolina. My mother didn't take my father back to South Carolina to be buried because we had made Asheville our home, and she wanted him buried here. There was also the money factor to consider. This was during the time of the great Depression, so times were hard.

DEE: You have in your hand a booklet. Was it given to your family by Allen Funeral Home at the time of your fathers funeral services and internment?

MRS. MAPP: Well it was my mother's. Before she passed away, she was living here with my family. This booklet was in her personal belongings. It did come from Allen Funeral Home. They gave out these such booklets to the family members of the deceased for their own personal records.

DEE: What about in terms of the type of coffin that particularly your father was buried in. Do you know where they got the coffin from, or was this something Mr. Allen took care of? Had you ever heard of how coffins were made or if there was a coffin maker in Asheville?

MRS. MAPP: Well, the only thing I can remember about it, I don't know where it came from, but it was not one of the expensive ones, but it was suitable for father to be buried in.

DEE: What about headstones? You mentioned that your father did not have one. Was there a certain place that people went to get headstones made? We've noticed that we do have some still standing in the cemetery.

MRS. MAPP: No, I don't remember any particular place that people went to get the headstones, but I do remember hearing my Mother say that she could have gotten one through Mr. Allen, had she had the money. So I believe that at that time the funeral home director had a lot of input when it came to getting the headstone.

DEE: I see here, according to your booklet, that the songs that were sung then and the songs sung today, like "Nearer To My God To Thee," haven't really changed nor the input from the choir, but I also see here that the congregation also sang.   That's something we don't see done today, the congregation being in the singing. Was that something that was pretty much the tradition then, was there a lot of singing by the congregation in the church, during the ceremonies at the funeral? This is just one instance of it but what about at the cemetery, did the congregation participate in a song at the cemetery?  Was there singing there at the grave site?

MRS. MAPP: Well, as far as I can remember, there was a hymn that everybody sang and including the congregation. One reason they sang or had so much input in the singing, is because the choir used a lot of hymns that the congregation could take part in the singing. But the choir they sang the note songs, you know, without music.

DEE: So at the cemetery it was pretty much like it is now? When they got there, all they did was officiate at the internment? Was it brief, how long would you say the ceremony lasted? Going by what you know from your father's graveside rites, was there any difference at all, or was it just about the same?

MRS. MAPP: Well, the only difference that I remember is that they don't sing now at the cemetery now like they did then, but then they did sing one song at the cemetery before the body was committed.  They sang one song and then they had prayer and then everybody said the Lords Prayer, but now they don't do that.

DEE: You mentioned that the cemetery looked like it was not very well kept when your father was getting ready to be interred out there. What do you think about the bad shape of the cemetery at that time? What was the reason for the cemetery being condemned? What has been your thoughts about why it was condemned and then just abandoned by almost everyone? Where did people bury their kin after the cemetery was closed? What other places were available for burials at that time?

MRS. MAPP: Well now, I don't remember, but one place to my knowledge that was available and that was the Riverside Cemetery. There was someone there to keep the graves up, you know to keep the cemetery up. It has always saddened me to know that the South Asheville Cemetery was condemned.  I've often wondered why, not just because my father is buried out there, but all those other graves out there too. I didn't know that you had to keep it up yourself as a family. I just didn't know why it was in the shape it was in, or why it was condemned. I've often wondered about that.

DEE: Thank you for your help, Mrs. Mapp, I believe that concludes our interview for today.