Beechwood Cemetery

North Carolina

United States

Beechwood Cemetery which boasts of close to 25 acres of land was developed to consolidate overfilling and neglected black cemeteries in the city of Durham: Violet Park, Geer Cemetery, Fitzgerald Cemetery, and Hickstown Cemetery. Many interments were transitioned to Beechwood Cemetery during that time. Beechwood has interred notable African American business and community leaders including John Merrick, founder of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, C.C. Spaulding, General Manager & President of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, and Dr. James E. Shepard, founder and President of the National Religious Training School, which would later become NCCU.