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Lesson Plans
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North Carolina History Lesson Plans from the Southern Appalachian Archives
- North Carolina History Lesson Plans: Precolonial
- North Carolina Era 2 – Colonial 1600 - 1763: Migration Push/Pull Lesson
- North Carolina Era 3 – Revolution 1763 - 1789: Regulator Songs Lesson Plan
- North Carolina Era 4: Early National – 1789-1836: Family Histories Lesson Plan
- North Carolina Era 5: Antebellum - 1836 - 1860: Rip Van Winkle in contemporary writing lesson plan
- North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1860 - 1876: Views of the Civil War Lesson Plan
- North Carolina Era 7: New South – 1876 - 1900: Subscription Schools in Western North Carolina Lesson Plan
- North Carolina Era 8: Early 20th Century – 1900 - 1929 Lesson Plans
- North Carolina Era 9: Depression and War (1929-1945)
- North Carolina Era 10: Postwar (1945-1975): Post-War Political Cartoons Lesson Plan
- North Carolina Era 11: Recent (1975-2010) Lesson Plans
- Land Use in Western North Carolina Lesson Plans from the Southern Appalachian Archives
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North Carolina History Lesson Plans from the Southern Appalachian Archives
- "Feast and Farmin': A Celebration of Western North Carolina Agricultural History"
Piney Grove Cemetery
Piney Grove Cemetery is near Walker Branch Road in the Middle Fork section of Madison County. The cemetery is on privately-owned land, which could be a threat to its preservation, though it is currently being protected. Due to its position on private land, the Piney Grove Cemetery has not been maintained and is surrounded by overgrown grass and bushes that cover many graves. There are two cemeteries on the hill where it is located: one with African American graves and the other with white graves. The African American cemetery has only one manufactured headstone and all graves (except for Addie Ray's) are marked with fieldstones. In contrast, the white cemetery contains many graves with headstones.
Much of the history we uncovered about Piney Grove comes from local and family stories, rather than official records. The Piney Grove Church is said to have begun in the late 19th or very early 20th century, when African American families began moving into Middle Fork, with the establishing families including the Dolf, Coone, Earl Connelly, Ferguson, and Anderson families (Madison County Heritage Book, 32). This church survived until 1917 when the families moved into the Long Ridge area in Mars Hill and established a new church -- Mount Olive Baptist Church (Dillingham et al., 7).
The Piney Grove Church and Cemetery have little historical documentation and the material we have pieced together comes from local history books, the Madison County Register of Deeds, and stories from the local community. The Piney Grove Church was established on April 6, 1906, under the direction of Reverend Hamp Flack. However, as families moved closer to Mars Hill, they used funds from Uncle John Ferguson's $120 sale of the Piney Grove Church land to build their new church building in the Long Ridge Community (The Historic Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School, Our Story, This Place).
Deeds research tells us that this land was sold to Nathan M. Anderson on June 8, 1871, where he was granted 200 acres on Walker Branch Rd (Register of Deeds, Book P, 363-365). Nathan would eventually divide and pass the land down to his children, one of them being Bregetta Jarvis, his daughter from his first marriage. According to local family history, Nathan lived in Middle Fork with his wife and children until his wife passed away, leaving him to raise young children. As a result, he purchased Nancy Coon, an African American woman, in the early 1860s—prior to Emancipation—to assist with home chores and childrearing. According to the family story, Nathan and Nancy lived together as a couple and most likely had children. It is said that once Nathan passed away, he left both Nancy and his daughter Bregetta Jarvis land. After inheriting the land, it is believed that Bregetta gave or donated a portion of land to an African American congregation for a church (Piney Grove) and graveyard, since she knew that some of the people in the congregation were her half siblings from her father's relationship with Nancy.
Bibliography
Dillingham, Richard, Slagle, Dan, Hart, Sarah Weston. The Historic Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School: Our Story, This Place. Contributions by Pauline Cheek, Charity Ray, and Dorothy Coon, Pisgah Press, 2022.
Madison County Heritage Book Committee. Madison County Heritage Book, Volume 1. Don Mills and the Madison County Heritage Book Committee. 1994, p. 32.
Madison County Registry of Deeds. Walker Branch to N.M. Anderson deed. Old Index Books,
Book P, pgs. 363-365. 21 Jan. 1881. Accessed 23 Aug. 2024.
Madison County Registry of Deeds. N.M. Anderson & Bregetta Jervis deed. Old Index Books,
Book S, pgs. 175-176. 21 Jan. 1881. Accessed 23 Aug. 2024.
State of North Carolina’s. Madison County Index Death Certificates. Books 1-77, Vol 1-7, Jan C. Plemmons, 1999-2002.
Tideman, Bill. Interview with Mrs. Augusta Ray & Charity Ray. Transcribed by Joyce H. Willis, 1980. Oral History Archive, Southern Appalachian Archives, Mars Hill University.
- Essay written by Brogan Heavner and Jennifer Miranda-Piñeda
