An actor, with back to camera, portrays one of Mount Olive’s earlier residents during the 2022 Cemetery Walk. This year’s walk will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26. Tickets are free and are available at the Steele Memorial Library reference desk and should be picked up by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25. The walk, through Maplewood Cemetery (also known as Oakview) and the historic Myrtle Grove Cemetery, the town’s oldest cemetery, is sponsored by the Mount Olive Area Historical Society and Steele Memorial Library. (Courtesy photo|Steele Memorial Library)
The history of Mount Olive can be found inscribed in the names on the headstones in the town’s Maplewood Cemetery (also known as Oakview) and the historic Myrtle Grove Cemetery, the town’s oldest cemetery established ca. 1870.
That history will come alive Thursday, Oct. 26, between 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., during the seventh annual Cemetery Walk, sponsored by the Mount Olive Area Historical Society and Steele Memorial Library.
During the walk, actors portraying the people behind that history will tell their stories.
Tickets are free and are available at the Steele Memorial Library reference desk and should be picked up by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25.
“But if someone comes in here Thursday morning, they can get them,” said Paige Newcomb. Steele Memorial Library reference librarian. “I won’t say no if we still have some. The tickets are free, but you do need to have a ticket to get on the wagon.
“We don’t want more than 10 to 15 per load because it is hard to hear.”
People need to be at Ribeyes Steakhouse on North Center Street by whatever time is on their ticket since that is the time they will leave for the cemetery, she added.
The groups will leave at 10-minute intervals.
The University of Mount Olive will provide the driver and tractor-drawn wagon for participants to ride to the cemetery.
Following the walk, Girl Scout Troop 389 will provide hot chocolate and cookies.
The interpreters at the cemeteries will be performers with Center Stage Theatre. Tamara Baltazar, Wayne County Public Library technical services supervisor, arranges the interpreters, Newcomb said.
The walk will take about 20 to 30 minutes and will include segments on the history of the cemetery and the town, said Ken Dilda, director of the David John Aaron Teaching and History Museum.
In case of inclement weather, the walk will be canceled. There is no rain date.
The interpreters will perform as:
— James Westbrook, 1852-1935, came to Mount Olive in 1881 and introduced truck farming on a large scale, Dilda said. His main crop was strawberries. He had 20 acres in 1904 that netted $14,000.
Westbrook was one of the largest produce growers in eastern N.C. In 1926 he sold the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. its first acre of land for $1,000. Westbrook’s two-story home is located across North Center Street from the pickle company.
In 1937, his wife Frances donated land to the town for a park. In 1976 the town officially named the park the Frances Flowers Westbrook Park.
— Melvina Baker Cheyney, 1842-1923, attended Wayne Female Academy in Goldsboro where she was valedictorian before becoming a teacher during the Civil War. Her brother told her to accept gold and not cash as payment for fear the Confederate currency would be worthless, Dilda said. By the end of the Civil War she had $300 in gold.
She married William Cheyney who is believed to have introduced the strawberry in 1870 to the Mount Olive area, Dilda said. She was a teacher at the old Mount Olive Institute.
— Estelle English, 1880-1970, was the daughter of James Westbrook, and married produce broker DuBrutz English. Her father built the house at the corner of Northeast Center Street and Park Avenue as their wedding gift.
Her husband died during the 1918 flu epidemic so she took over the family’s farming business and became popular with the youth of the town, Dilda said.
— R. J. Southerland Sr., 1842-1906, moved to Mount Olive about 1870 from Duplin County following the Civil War. About 1870 he built the Southerland House loacted across West Main Street from Steele Memorial Library.
Southerland was one of the town’s first five commissioners in 1870 when the town was chartered. He also built the town’s first motel, listed as early as 1884, that was located on the corner of South Center and West Pollock streets.
It served as a hospital before later becoming the Mayflower Inn before being demolished in 1939.
— Dr. Samuel Flowers, 1835-1886, owned a plantation on Thunder Swamp of about 1,000 acres. During the Civil War he was an assistant surgeon at three military camps near Wilmington and was chief surgeon during the Battle of Bentonville in 1865.
In 1878 he married Nannie Kornegay, whose husband Lemuel Kornegay, had died in 1875. He moved to Mount Olive where he had a medical practice and drug store.
