Revealing the Past at Oberlin Cemetery

A partnership between historians, anthropologists, preservationists and geologists is unraveling the mystery and history of Oberlin Cemetery, and they’re using some surprising technologies to do it.

Oberlin Cemetery is one of only four known African-American cemeteries in Raleigh. Founded in 1873 and used until 1971, the small three-acre plot is key to understanding the history of Oberlin Village, the largest freedman’s village in Wake County during Reconstruction.