Journey to Purchasing and Naming the Brown Hill Cemetery

In Greenville, NC, the Visitors and Convention Bureau lists no official Historical Sites of Afro-Americans. Afro-Americans have lived in Greenville since 1771.The Southside Seniors can be influential in promoting Historical Sites on Howell Street and the Town Common. Without records, generations of Blacks will have lost a vast and rich historical past.Immediate attention can be devoted to mapping unmapped graves, replacing the cow - pasture gate with an aesthetically pleasing one, placing historical data on the entrance sign or gate, retooling grave borders and headstones, replacing deteriorating vaults and broken headstones and building a retaining wall to hide the Public Works workstation from full view of the cemetery.With less than a decade left before Greenvilles 250th Anniversary Celebration, Southside Seniors must become proactive to ensure some Black representation on this historic occasion. For in the words of the United Negro College Funds slogan:A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE.Chronicled is a timeline of the Sycamore Hill Baptist Church/Brown Hill Cemeteries connections and profiles of Messers S. G. Wilkerson, Walter E. Flanagan and Professor Charles M. Eppes.May we never forget that the implementation of Moses instructions can be a challenge to all: REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD, CONSIDER THE YEARS OF MANY GENERATIONS: ASK THY FATHER, AND HE WILL SHOW THEE; THY ELDERS, AND THEY WILL TELL THEE.