Our Partner: City of Charlotte
The City owns and operates seven cemeteries. They are significant public assets, invested in by the community with sentimental, historic and cultural value. Cemetery operations include approximately 500 interments each year, along with maintenance of 200 acres of property. See their stories below.
Repairing headstones, consoling grieving families and preserving the history of the dead is all in a day’s work of a sexton. In this episode of Behind the Crown, City of Charlotte sexton William ‘Bill’ Bibby shares a glimpse of what it takes to manage cemeteries, and his take on the most important quality he brings to the job. Learn more about City of Charlotte cemeteries at CLICK HERE.
Established in 1853 as a cemetery for Charlotte's Black residents, Pinewood Cemetery remained physically separated from neighboring Elmwood Cemetery until 1969 when Council Member Fred Alexander led a successful desegregation movement. Now, you can move freely between the two landscapes while you explore Charlotte's history—something the City of Charlotte's sexton, Bill Bibby, does often.
Once a year, the city's General Services department offers Charlotte residents a unique educational experience called "Treetops & Tombstones." During this one-of-a-kind walking tour of Elmwood Cemetery, Cemetery Director Bill Bibby and City Arborist Laurie Reid share information about the historical figures buried there and the trees that make it a certified arboretum. The leisurely tour is accessible for both cyclists and pedestrians and is appropriate for all ages.
Do graveyards smell? Are graveyards safe? Do graveyards ever run out of space? City of Charlotte Sexton Bill Bibby sits with Jason Puckett — yes, in a mausoleum — to answer some of Google's most asked questions about cemeteries and share his experiences as a grave digger.
The City owns and operates seven cemeteries. They are significant public assets, invested by the community with sentimental, historic and cultural value.