WEST ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —
Conda Painter spent decades looking for a lost cemetery in West Asheville. Her determination paid off last year when human remains were found at a construction site on Haywood Road.
A year later, the West Asheville History Museum, of which Painter is curator, has planned a walking tour to commemorate the rediscovery of Wilson’s Chapel Cemetery.
A history panel, or reader rail, will be unveiled at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at 727 Haywood Road. There will also be a walking tour to honor the lost cemetery.
History of the site
Wilson’s Chapel AME Church seems to have started sometime around 1887 but could date to as early as 1884, Painter said. It moved from the area near what is now the corner of Haywood Road and Virginia Avenue to Burton Street in 1925.
“It seems the church had some financial troubles and they were having trouble getting the bodies moved,” Painter said.
Painter said her interest in the cemetery started on a neighbor’s porch when she was a young girl.
“A neighbor, she was pretty old, probably 89, 87 or 89 years old, said, ‘You know, I heard a rumor there used to be a cemetery in this neighborhood, but I don’t remember where,'” Painter said.
And her search began.
“It’s been a big part of my life,” Painter said, explaining that she and her father spent years searching for the cemetery. “We actually found a casket handle in our backyard.”
Painter said she and her father researched Wilson’s Chapel, hoping to find some clue of the cemetery’s whereabouts.
“We spent many, many years putting the pieces together,” she said.
June 16, 2023
Years went by, and she found nothing.
Then a construction crew started work on the lot at 680 Haywood Road.
“And I thought it’s been 17 years since I did an interview with Mountain Express about the cemetery, so I put it on social media,” Painter said.
That got the attention of city officials, who halted work at the site, she said.
An archeologist was brought in.
“The archeologist called me and invited me to the site,” Painter said. “And I’m actually there telling them where I think it would be.”
She said they searched for about six weeks with no luck.
“And I said if you go back a little bit further. And they said they were almost at the edge of the property. But they went back a little further, and they found two graves with bodies,” Painter said.
That was on June 16, 2023. The find, though, was bittersweet.
“My dad passed away and wasn’t here when they found it,” she said.
What’s next
Painter said the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County helped obtain the history panel for the cemetery.
“And we’re so thankful to them. And we’re waiting on a retaining wall the city is supposed to be building,” Painter said.
She is also working on getting markers for the remaining graves at the site.