the Lupton family, a long-standing 

 Cedar Island clan. Like the cypress 

 markers in the Old Burying Ground, 

 wood stakes are all that point to some of 

 the graves in this tiny rural cemetery. 



A family monument says that the 

 Lupton family established itself in North 

 Carolina in the 1760s after Christopher 

 Lupton shipwrecked near Cedar Island. 

 He married 

 Elizabeth 

 Robinson, and 

 they had five 

 children. An 

 interesting fact 

 about Lupton 

 was his name: 

 In the 18th 

 century, people 

 named their 

 sons after their 

 grandfathers, 

 not their fathers 

 — in effect, 

 skipping a 

 generation each 

 time a name 

 was used. But 

 Christopher 

 Lupton had the 

 same name as 

 four generations 

 before him, says 

 Jack Goodwin, 

 a genealogist 



and retired system director for the 

 Smithsonian Institution's library 

 services. That was highly unusual for 

 the times, says Goodwin, one of 

 Lupton's descendants. 



Family lore holds that Lupton was 

 buried in the Cedar Island graveyard, 

 but there is no way to be sure, Goodwin 

 says. "He had a lot of land in that area, 

 and later Luptons are buried there," he 

 says. 



Lupton was from Cape May, N.J., 

 and he descended from a distinguished 

 family in Southampton, N.Y. He arrived 

 at a time when North Carolina was 

 trying to attract settlers with an offer of 

 50 acres of land for every white person 

 in a family. As a result, most of the 

 settlers in North Carolina were from 



elsewhere in the United States rather 

 than directly from Europe, Goodwin 



says. 



And, like the Luptons, many of the 

 families that settled Cedar Island are still 

 there today. Islanders have made their 

 living commercial fishing or have found 

 other careers. But whether they re- 

 mained or settled elsewhere, their family 



iam Qaston's monument in Cedar Qrove Cemeteiy 



graveyards will always attest to their 

 deep Cedar Island roots. Plots are filled 

 with people of the same last name — 

 people who were buried near the 

 homestead so that family could take care 

 of the graves and make frequent visits. 



Small family graveyards aren't 

 the only place to find kinfolk buried 

 together. Large clans can also be found 

 in the plots of old urban graveyards. 

 Two outstanding examples of these 

 historic cemeteries are found inland 

 in downtown New Bern at Christ 

 Episcopal Church and Cedar Grove. 



Darkened and lichen-stained, old 

 stones at Christ Episcopal Church stand 

 guard throughout the churchyard and in 

 a playground. They mark some of New 



Bern's oldest graves. In the 1700s, 

 Christ Church was the town's only major 

 burying ground with a capacity to hold 

 about 2,000 people. But the demand for 

 burials overran its borders in the late 

 1790s with the first of several disastrous 

 yellow fever epidemics, says John 

 Green, a historic preservation consultant. 

 "At one point there were so many 

 deaths they had 

 to do mass 

 burials," Green 

 says. "They 

 filled it up, and 

 they needed 

 another cem- 

 etery." 



Space for 

 the fever victims 

 was found in 

 nearby Cedar 

 Grove cemetery, 

 which was 

 opened almost 

 immediately. 

 By 1802, it was 

 regarded as New 

 Bern's principal 

 burying ground. 

 Later expansions 

 increased its 

 capacity to about 

 20,000 people. 



Christ 

 Church deeded 

 Cedar Grove to the town in 1853, and 

 plans were made to erect a wall around 

 it, both to beautify the cemetery and to 

 protect it from wandering livestock — 

 a major problem in those days. Today, 

 perhaps its most distinguishing feature 

 is the "weeping arch" entry, a series of 

 three marl arches built in 1854 that 

 collect rainwater and appear to weep in 

 sympathy with grief-stricken relatives. 

 Local legend holds that if you're struck 

 by one of the tears as you walk through 

 the arch, you'll be the next one carried 

 through in a hearse. Green says. 



Those who have made their final 

 entrance there include some of New 

 Bern's leading citizens as well as people 

 from all walks of life: sea captains. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 5 



