Found this in the woods in Northampton County:






I was actually looking for a civil war era graveyard that supposedly exists in those woods. I never found the graveyard, but I did find this. It is only about 6' long total, so I doubt it contains an adult casket. I pushed back the pinestraw looking for a headstone, but couldn't find one.

The posts are concrete. Anyone know how long concrete has been in existance?

There is at least one known homesite less than a mile from here. I found a pile of rocks that appeared to have been a chimney and a pile of rocks that I think were originally steps based on the shape of the rocks. There is also an old car that has rusted away there.

2/15/2007 9:42:09 PM

If it's not a grave, I'd say it's prolly something important at least.

2/15/2007 9:44:14 PM

Quote :

"Anyone know how long concrete has been in existance?"

Couple thousand years.



My bet is on grave.

2/15/2007 9:45:19 PM

Gravesites like that are pretty common in NC.

2/15/2007 9:46:59 PM

Interesting. I wish it had a headstone so I could see the date.

2/15/2007 9:52:49 PM

I would wanna get in there and start digging, but that probably wouldn't be good.

2/15/2007 9:59:52 PM

looks like one of the many witch burial grounds in central north carolina that i learned about in high school. Thats why its so well protected.

2/15/2007 10:00:10 PM

it doesn't look too old going by the rust on the horizontal members

[Edited on February 15, 2007 at 10:05 PM. Reason : is there a gate or something on it?]

2/15/2007 10:04:50 PM

wow

i've seen one of those before...the memory is pretty old though...back home in the Shenandoah Valley

man...must have been like 24 years ago though...the memory is like a dream...can't remember for the life of me what exactly it was...i almost wanna say that it observed a spot where this guy named Turner Ashby (a leader in Stonewall Jackson's forces) was killed

but i could just be fuzzy in the head...it was a long ass time ago

2/15/2007 10:11:34 PM

I'm 95% sure it a civ war soldiers grave, I've seen several like that in random counties, although not that small (maybe not many bodies or they burned the bodies but I doubt that), and usually they'll put a memorial stone on those concrete supports or the ground around the fence. They may not have built it during the actual war but some time afterwards. Move the leaves/dirt around near the fence and you might find a plaque there.

2/15/2007 10:15:24 PM

where at in NH county?

2/15/2007 10:16:13 PM

Yea, where's this at? I'd like to go check it out and maybe do some research. Got some GPS coordinates I could throw in to find it or what? Need details, thx.

2/15/2007 10:30:47 PM

Sorta related but did anyone know theres a graveyard back in those woods right beside Tryon and U House? Not even a quarter acre of pines. Thought google earth had it listed but it dont.

[Edited on February 15, 2007 at 10:39 PM. Reason : google]

2/15/2007 10:33:10 PM

Looks like a grave to me, and it also looks like they didn't want you fucking with it.(hence the pointy fence)

Concrete has only really been around for the last 100 years. Mortar has been around since the egyptians, but that's not mortar.

Family plots like that are all over the place. Smart landowners will eventually just destroy the headstone so they don't have to dig the poor sonambitches up later when they decide to pack 4 houses/acre on the exact same spot.

For you freaks that are into this sort of thing:
http://www.findagrave.com/

2/15/2007 10:45:25 PM

Quote :

"Concrete has only really been around for the last 100 years."

I thought the romans came up with concrete?

2/15/2007 10:49:25 PM

the romans had concrete

2/15/2007 10:51:45 PM

there is a civil war era graveyard in front of house. its pretty neat to go looking in the woods for the headstones. this graveyard doesn't have structures similar to the one you have pictured just headstones.

2/15/2007 11:47:17 PM

def a gravesite and from civil war era

as stated above its from a pretty important person...there are prolly a lot of other soldiers buried around and may have headstones or metal pieces lying around to pinpoint the locals

(get a metal detector)

These types were normally for the high ranking officials that died in battle and were honored by this protective barrier.

if you look on the concrete and begin to feel on it you may find some inscriptions, alot of times the weather and rain and all will eventually wash off the letters

I could be wrong about what it is but being from the Bentonville area I have seen this a few times(though never this well done or organized or neatly made)
could be a prominent figure.

gg lookin and finding that.

[Edited on February 15, 2007 at 11:53 PM. Reason : f]

2/15/2007 11:52:20 PM

awsome, I wanna see it.

2/15/2007 11:56:27 PM

some of you people are just plain talking out your ass.

for anyone to say "definitely" this or "definitely" that without even seeing it, just shows how full of shit you are.

yes, it is likely a grave site. other than that, you can't really tell anything for certain from the picture.

the person(s) buried there may or may not have been contemporary to the Civil War, and even if they were, you dont have any idea whether or not they fought in it, died in it, or died of old age, and it says nothing about whether or not they were an officer, enlisted, draftee, or just some putz who had a gimp leg or something and was rejected from the army.

it is entirely up to the family of the deceased as to what kind of headstone, ornamentation, or ironworks surrounding a family plot. if the family was rich youll have an expensive gravesite. sometimes things like iron fences or memorial obelisks are erected by descendents decades after the person was buried.

Many of my NC kinfolk are all buried in the center of our old tobacco field in Johnston County, under a tree, surrounded by fencing that was erected in the early 1900's. there are headstones for ex-slaves of the family, who stayed after the civil war was over. My G-G-Grandfather who fought with the NC 36th Troops (Artillery) has a headstone that says absolutely nothing about his Civil War service, he died in 1892 long after the war was over.

2/16/2007 12:58:36 AM

could be a grave, if u cant get in or out then we know its not a cage or anything important

2/16/2007 1:09:37 AM

Quote :

"is there a gate or something on it?]"

No gate.

Quote :

"I would wanna get in there and start digging, but that probably wouldn't be good."

That's exactly why I'm not really planning to take anyone else out there.

Quote :

"Yea, where's this at? I'd like to go check it out and maybe do some research. Got some GPS coordinates I could throw in to find it or what? Need details, thx."

No GPS coordinates. Did you ever go to CarZin's place at the lake? It's about a mile from there.

Quote :

"there are prolly a lot of other soldiers buried around and may have headstones or metal pieces lying around to pinpoint the locals"

There is supposed to be a whole graveyard and an orchard in the middle of the woods somewhere around there, but I have searched twice and can't find it. There were definately a lot of homes out there.

2/16/2007 1:18:19 AM

i have no idea what it is but i admire the photography. nice pictures.

2/16/2007 1:18:27 AM

^ Thx. I just wish I had been paying attention to the camera strap that is covering the top left corner of the second pic.

2/16/2007 1:22:04 AM

that isn't a strap, it's the grave's ghost as it passes through your camera to chill your soul

2/16/2007 1:27:00 AM

2/16/2007 1:31:37 AM

concrete is different than cement. Romans had cement. concrete needs gypsum. I dont know when it was officially invented but it was introduced to the united states in 1890. could not have been invented much earlier than that.

2/16/2007 1:35:38 AM

It could be cement. I didn't take my gypsum meter with me.

2/16/2007 1:39:28 AM

haha that was just to settle the earlier discussion about when concrete/cement was invented. i personally think the blair witch has relocated and this is a ploy to get you into her scary house

2/16/2007 2:04:06 AM

scary..could be a ritual burial ground.....you've found your own blair witch!

2/16/2007 3:18:56 AM

romans had concrete, the recipe had been lost for hundreds of years until it was rediscovered in the last few centuries

(prime example of conc mixed with other solidifying materials: i.e pumice, and other light stone - the pantheon in rome)

[Edited on February 16, 2007 at 5:03 AM. Reason : ]

2/16/2007 5:02:19 AM

steviewonder, Nighthawk, and myself have an extensive knowledge of all things Northampton County.

2/16/2007 5:32:21 AM

Are you referring to Lindell and Charlies?? He had some family that had lake places, but they were all in Myrick Estates on the Halifax side of Lake Gaston as far as I knew. Whose place are you talking about???

2/16/2007 6:23:24 AM

Quote :

"concrete is different than cement. Romans had cement. concrete needs gypsum. I dont know when it was officially invented but it was introduced to the united states in 1890. could not have been invented much earlier than that."

Romans had concrete, Vitruvius left extensive notes about its use.

2/16/2007 8:26:35 AM

in the next door neighbor's front yard at the beach (emerald isle) there's a small graveyard w/ lots of children's plots all from the late 1800s. it's pretty cool. a lot of the headstones are wood and some look burnt. people walk by to see it all the time.

2/16/2007 8:34:57 AM

Quote :

"Are you referring to Lindell and Charlies?? He had some family that had lake places, but they were all in Myrick Estates on the Halifax side of Lake Gaston as far as I knew. Whose place are you talking about???"

Nah, he had a place there when we were kids. Whipoorwill Hills area.

[Edited on February 16, 2007 at 11:06 AM. Reason : s]

2/16/2007 11:03:07 AM

6ft long doesn't necessarily mean it's a child. People were shorter back then

2/16/2007 11:25:41 AM

Quote :

"The Assyrians and Babylonians used clay as the bonding substance or cement. The Egyptians used lime and gypsum cement. In 1756, British engineer, John Smeaton made the first modern concrete (hydraulic cement) by adding pebbles as a coarse aggregate and mixing powered brick into the cement. In 1824, English inventor, Joseph Aspdin invented Portland Cement, which has remained the dominant cement used in concrete production."

2/16/2007 11:30:10 AM

You are fucked, you are so fucked.

2/16/2007 11:37:52 AM

start digging and report back with what you've found.

2/16/2007 11:47:25 AM

[no]

2/16/2007 11:49:46 AM