Hamp Gap Cemetery

Fieldstone marking the head of a grave at the Hamp Gap Cemetery (photo by Brogan Heavner)

Sitting on the Bailey Ridge in the Bailey Mountain Preserve in Madison County, in western North Carolina, sits the Hamp Gap Cemetery. It is in the Hamp Gap area just northeast of the East Fork community and around a mile off the mountain’s Hoffman Trail. The cemetery is estimated to have been established and used between the 1870s and the early 1900s.  

The Hamp Gap Cemetery was abandoned for a long time before recent renewed interest in it. There are no manufactured tombstones as we would see in many cemeteries, but instead uninscribed fieldstones—large pieces of stone repurposed to mark the location of a grave. Several trees stand between what we believe to be 6-10 graves facing eastward, a large patch of periwinkle spreading over the eastern slope. Periwinkle, among a few other plants such as yucca and cedar, is commonly found at African American cemeteries from both the 19th and 20th centuries (Rainville 15, 62). Not all of these graves are marked. Some have both head and foot stones, some only headstones, and some are only identified by depressions in the earth. While estimates can be made, without the help of ground-penetrating radar, it is difficult to determine exactly how many persons are buried there.  

The history of Hamp Gap Cemetery is shrouded in mystery. Oral traditions about the cemetery vary. One popular version of its history states that an African American family called the Hamps lived on the other side of Bailey Mountain, near East Fork and away from the Long Ridge community in Mars Hill. According to the story told by local Joe Robinson, they perished in the Spanish flu epidemic and were buried there. In this story, Hamp was a formerly enslaved man that was granted 12 acres of land by Levi Bailey himself (Robinson). According to the Madison County Cemetery Survey, an African American family was given land nearby after being freed in Mars Hill, and Hamp Gap Cemetery was their family grave (Plemmons). The veracity of either story is not clear.  

The physical documentation of Hamp Gap Cemetery is also sparse. There are no records that we have been able to locate that identify who is buried there; however, some clues in other official records solidify the existence of the cemetery and hint at who may have been laid to rest there and why it is named Hamp Gap Cemetery. A transaction of nearby land between Horace J. Carter and C.A. McHone notes a boundary that passes “Hamp Erwin’s cleared land...” (Madison County Register of Deeds, Book U, p. 142). Vernacular history, similarly, suggests that Hamp Gap had been named after the Hamp family that supposedly lived there (Robinson). While there is no one in the Madison County census records with the last name Hamp, there is someone with that first name in the 1880 Madison County Census. In the 1880 census, an African American man named Hampton Erwin (26) lived in Bull Creek with his wife Hannah (25), daughters Maggie (3) and Annie (1), and another woman named Charity Erwin (55), whose relationship is not given (1880 United States Federal Census). While we do not have the 1890 census due to the infamous fire that burned down the registry building, the Erwins had disappeared from the area by the time of the 1900 Madison County Census. This lines up with part of the oral account. We identified a family tree on Ancestry.com that traced Hamp Erwin later to the 1900 Rutherford County Census, widowed (1900 United States Federal Census), and Maggie married in Virginia (North Carolina)—Hannah, Annie, and Charity Erwin, however, were nowhere to be found. This denotes plausibility as we found an 1875 marriage record for Hampton Erwin of Madison and Hannah Dickey in Rutherford County (North Carolina). Hannah Dickey had family in Rutherford County, including her parents, Felix and Susan Dickey, and several siblings (Hannah Dickie-Erwin).  Additionally, a 1915 Madison County deed between J.M. and Sallie Shook and Frank and Mary Shook notes a border that goes “...forty eight poles to a stake at a Negro graveyard” (book 37, pg. 108). When compared to a modern map, this graveyard correlates to the location of Hamp Gap Cemetery, supporting the idea of its creation prior to 1915, which lines up with when Hamp Erwin and his family lived in the area. However, further research is required to flesh out this hypothesis. 

Today, the Hamp Gap Cemetery is no longer in use. Until it was cleared by Ryan Bell, a professor at Mars Hill University and member of the Friends of Bailey Mountain, it lay unmarked in the forest. Going forward, there are several challenges that will be faced to maintain the cemetery. One of the most pressing is the issue of land ownership. The cemetery immediately abuts private land that is currently for sale, and there is a risk that those who acquire the land may develop it in ways hazardous to the cemetery. Another issue is that the trek to the ridge—over two miles uphill—makes the cemetery difficult to access (and consequently to research and preserve). Marking the cemetery will help alert accidental and purposeful visitors to the area's significance. Some ideas to do this include trail signs to the cemetery, adding an official NC historical marker, outlining the property with markings, or placing a map for closer identification. Preservation and remembrance suggestions include holding a funerary or memorial service annually near the cemetery or Bailey Mountain, promoting town recognition of its existence and location, and identifying the stakeholders to its preservation.    

Bibliography

1880 United States Federal Census. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/13314387:6742?ssrc=pt&tid=191148931&pid=232487065835  

1900 United States Federal Census. Ancestry,  https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/57646491:7602?tid=&pid=&queryid=767f5841-1152-4efb-aca5-100c01b3a643&_phsrc=fqg25&_phstart=successSource  

Hampton “Hamp” Erwin/Irwin. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/191148931/person/232487065835/facts  

Hannah Dickie-Erwin. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/191148931/person/232487065843/facts  

Madison County Registry of Deeds. Horace J. Carter and C.A. McHone deed. Old Index Books, Book U, pgs. 141-142. 21 Jan. 1881. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024. 

Madison County Registry of Deeds. J.M. & Sallie Shook deed. Old Index Books, Book 37, pg. 108. 27 Nov.1915. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.  

Morgan, Norma D.; Black, James A. 1880 Federal Census of Madison County, North Carolina. Pg. 127, entry 376, Hamp Erwin. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024. 

North Carolina, Marriage Indexes, 1741-2011 for Hamp Erwin. Ancestry,  https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1209023:60548?ssrc=pt&tid=191148931&pid=232487065835  

North Carolina, Marriage Indexes, 1741-2011 for Maggie Erwin. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/8704579:60548?ssrc=pt&tid=191148931&pid=232487065850  

Plemmons, Jan C., compiler. Cemeteries of Madison County, North Carolina, v. 1. February 1998. Jacksonville, FL.  

Rainville, Lynn. Hidden History: African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia. 2014. University of Viginia Press, 2016.  

Robinson, Joe. “Interview with Joe Robinson.” Interview by Chelsey Johnson. 25 Sept. 2020 at Joe’s home and farm in Mars Hill, NC. Transcript pg. 8. 

- Esssay by Megan Walters, with input from other AS 327 students.