Ark Cemetery

Front inscription

This marker stands adjacent to the burial ground of the former Ark Plantation, which dates back to the 1700s. Although the names of most of those buried here are now unknown, records indicate that it was primarily a cemetery for African Americans who lived at the Ark. In 1860, 63 slaves were recorded as living here. Descendants of those buried here continued to utilize the cemetery until 1952.

Reverse inscription

Sabe Rutledge, who was born in the 1860s at the Ark, requested to be buried here and was so in 1952. Although town maps reserved two blocks as Ark Cemetery, in 1980 a circuit court judge ruled against those who claimed that the property was a cemetery and decreed the property free and clear of any claims by the defendants. Development of the property soon followed that court ruling. Documented evidence of the site now exists.