A tour of the Davidson College Cemetery

Davidson Historical Society's Rachel Workman leads a tour of the Davidson College Cemetery on 11/16/25 (David Boraks photo)

About 50 people joined Davidson Historical Society on November 16 for a talk and tour of the historic Davidson College cemetery, on North Main Street in Davidson. Since 1838, it has been the burial place for college leaders (some with ties to the Confederacy), students and other local citizens. Historical society vice president Rachel Workman led the tour. Here are her notes from the talk. The numbers refer to rows of gravestones on the left and right of the main walkway.  

It was April 1838, just a year after Davidson College opened its doors, when the school faced a solemn need: figuring out where to bury their dead.

Two young daughters of college President Rev. Robert Hall Morrison had died within a week of each other from diphtheria: three-year-old Sarah and 13-month-old Elizabeth. Tragically, little Elizabeth had been the first baby born in this new "town," and the first baptized at Davidson College Presbyterian Church.

Rachel Workman (David Boraks photo)

The next loss was also a child— Mary (18L) the daughter of Thomas Sparrow, Davidson’s first known merchant. In fact, out of the first 20 known graves here, eleven were for children and two more were teenagers.

This initial burial plot was simply the northwesternmost corner of the college land. No survey of the site was made, no burial records were kept, and no fees were charged. Up until the early twentieth century, a free lot in the cemetery was a fringe benefit for all Davidson professors. Almost everyone buried here before 1880 was associated directly with the college—including enrolled students and recent graduates who died while at Davidson.

With the growth of the town during the 1880s and 1890s, the college cemetery was increasingly used as a public burial ground. Many town fathers, including the Rev. William P. Williams (11L), the first mayor of Davidson as an incorporated town, were buried here.

Soon after Davidson incorporated in 1879, there was a movement for the town to acquire the cemetery. The college trustees, however, declined to relinquish control due to the historic connection, and the cemetery has remained college property ever since.

People wandered through the cemetery at the historical society tour (David Boraks photo)

In 1894, the King's Daughters, an organization of the Davidson College Presbyterian Church, raised money for a new fence. Mr. Robert L. Query (9L), who lived next door on Main Street, acted as sexton. He was often quoted as saying he had "such quiet neighbors who never kept chickens." It was also noted during this era that the cemetery was a popular spot for courting couples to go for a stroll.

By 1913, President William J. Martin (6R) recognized that the management of the cemetery needed clarification. The trustees accepted his recommendation to appoint an official cemetery committee. President Martin, Professor John L. Douglas (4R), and Mr. Frank J. Knox (4R) were named the first trustees.

In October 1913, the three men stood right here and sold lots for fifty dollars each. Proceeds were to be used for care and maintenance. The first official plat of the cemetery was also made at that time. Additional footage on the north side was acquired from Miss May Ellinwood, and on the south from the Query family.

By 1937, almost all available lots had been sold, and the current fence bounding the cemetery to the north, south, and west was erected with the funds raised. It was at this point that the town purchased land for the Mimosa Cemetery on South Street.

Finally, in 1962, former college President John R. Cunningham conducted a campaign to raise money for the beautification of the cemetery. At that time, the present entrance gates, the iron fence along Main Street, and wrought iron benches were added, along with a paved central walkway terminating in a stone circle with a curved bench and a sun dial.

Approximately 630 people are buried here. Among them are:

• 8 College Presidents

• 4 College Deans

• 23 college professors

• 12 students

• 18 Presbyterian ministers

• 14 physicians

• 44 Veterans

• 9 Mayors of Davidson

In addition to some of the residents here I’ve already mentioned, I’ve selected some of interest that I’d like to tell you about

Mathias Engle (20R)

Mathias Engle was a young stonecutter and native of Bavaria who was killed in 1857 while blasting ford stone used in building the original Chamber’s building.

Daniel Harvey Hill (17L)

Alongside the young Morrison girls are their sister, Isabella Morrison Hill, her husband, General Daniel Harvey Hill, and four of their children.

D.H. Hill was a West Point graduate who served in the Mexican-American War before becoming a professor of mathematics. He taught for five critical years at Davidson College during a pivotal point in the school’s history.

Known as a strict disciplinarian with a stern demeanor, it didn’t take long for students to stage a rebellion against the militaristic system of discipline the trustees had adopted. A few days before Christmas in 1854, students gathered one night in front of the Chapel. When the faculty confronted them and told them to return to their rooms, the students started throwing rocks. One hit Hill square in the forehead.

When the faculty decided to suspend the one student they suspected of being the culprit, all students left the school en masse in protest. By the Spring of 1855, Davidson College had only fourteen students enrolled.

From 1866 to 1869, Hill also edited a monthly literary magazine called "The Land We Love." While primarily a literary magazine, historians have noted that the magazine through Reconstruction also kept alive the racial beliefs of the Confederacy - the "Lost Cause."      

Ahabeg David Yonan (19R)

The student section with markers erected by the two debate societies - Eumenean and Philanthropic. Among these is Davidson’s first International student - David Yonan from Persia. David graduated in 1900 and had planned on attending the medical school that was here in Davidson at the time. While attending a picnic on the Catawba River that summer, David tried to rescue fellow classmate, Freddie Hobbs, from drowning despite not even knowing how to swim. Unfortunately neither boy survived but David was hailed a hero for his efforts.

Wooten (7R)/Jetton (12R)

Not many cemeteries can boast a murderer and their victim buried just feet apart but that’s the case with Dr. Walter Herbert Wooten, respected town doctor and Robert Monroe Jetton, respected town pharmacist. The two men were neighbors, friends and business partners, but in February of 1914 Jetton caught Wooten in his home supposedly assaulting his wife and shot him dead. Jetton was acquitted of murder charges but moved to Georgia to live out the rest of his life until he was brought back to Davidson to be buried in 1939.

Erwin Brothers (5R)

The Morrison girls unfortunately aren’t the only siblings buried here who died just days apart.

Erwin lodge off of Grey Road was built as a community gathering space to honor Capt. George Phifer Erwin who died in a plane crash in Kansas following a training mission in January 1945 and Lt. Edward J. Erwin Jr. who was killed less than a month later in the Philippines.The Erwin brothers grew up in Davidson and graduated from college here. Their mother was a librarian at the college and their father was an English professor for over 30 years.

Dr. John Peter Munroe (3R)

Dr. Munroe was a graduate of Davidson College who returned in 1889 to serve two roles: as the college physician and as head of the fledgling one-year medical preparatory course.

In a short time, he grew that small program into a chartered, three-year course that became known as the North Carolina Medical College.

The inscription on his gravestone reads, “The Beloved Physician,” but he was so much more than that. According to historian Mary Beaty, Dr. Munroe was “one of the most important figures in Davidson’s history,” whose “wide-ranging interests and strong business sense made him a catalyst for social and economic change in the town.”

Beaty adds: “Mills, stores, a bank, the developing town government—all owe their very existence to this man.”

In addition to his medical work, Munroe served as music director at the Presbyterian church, was instrumental in building a chapel for mill workers, helped bring telephone service to Davidson, opened the first bank in town, and served on the town’s Board of Commissioners and as President of the Linden Cotton Mill. Not only that, he was also known for hosting elaborate parties!

In 1907, Dr. Munroe moved the Medical College to Charlotte, but he returned to Davidson at the age of 81 to live out the rest of his life.

Reid Cranford (2R)

Reid Cranford grew up in Davidson, attended college here and was the son of long-time local merchant Manly Cranford who ran his store where the Village Store is now. He became a casualty of World War I, dying of wounds sustained from a 1918 battle in France.

Rev. John R Cunningham (1L)

It is hard to ignore that this cemetery is known as much for who it does not include as for who it does include.

Reverend John R. Cunningham, who served as college president from 1941 to 1957, was one of the first college leaders to publicly speak out against the system of segregation then in place.

In the summer of 1956, he hosted a four-week interracial seminar on campus. During the course of that seminar, three different crosses were burned by angry locals: two on campus grounds, and one in front of the home of a local Black student who had been attending the sessions.

But Cunningham was not deterred. He doubled down on his work, continuing to host interracial meetings on campus.

By 1960, after his college presidency, Cunningham was appointed as chair of the Mayor’s Committee on Race Relationships in Charlotte. There, his work was instrumental in creating peaceful integration between whites and Blacks in public spaces, as well as exploring the profound impact segregation had on housing, education, employment, and crime in the greater Charlotte area.

The Cunningham Theatre Center on campus is named in honor of of Rev. Cunningham.

Freddie Hobbs (1R)

We already heard about David Yonan and his valiant effort to save his friend Freddie from drowning. But many people don't know that Freddie was a hero that day as well.

Another student, Ralph Helper, also started struggling against the current at the same time. When others came to help, Freddie insisted they take Ralph out of the water first.

Freddie was a local; he grew up in Mount Mourne and graduated from Davidson College in 1900, just weeks before his untimely death.

He was the only child of his parents. After they buried him here, they purchased the land just north of the cemetery and built a new house. His gravestone was intentionally tall so that they could see it from their window.

You may notice a small liquor bottle still sitting on Freddie’s marker. I brought it here this past summer on the anniversary of his drowning. During one of the renovations of the Carolina Inn—also known as the Helper Hotel—a ledger from 1896 was found, giving insight into some of the items Davidson residents were able to purchase there at the time.

Listed in that ledger for Freddie Hobbs was candy, cigars, and bay rum.