{"nrhp_refnum":"93001142","name":"Union Cemetery","other_names":["South Elm Street Cemetery"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"900 blook S. Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Greensboro","county":"Guilford County","state":"NC","lat":36.05888545400006,"lon":-79.79106956199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-10-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Union Cemetery is a roughly four-acre burial ground in South Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina, bounded by South Elm Street on the west and East Whittington Street on the south. It was established in the early 1880s by three churches as a cemetery for the Black community.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery is tied to Warnersville, one of North Carolina's earliest planned subdivisions for freedmen, and that many of its early Black leaders are buried there. It also argues the gravemarkers are unusually elaborate and sophisticated for early Black cemeteries in the county, reflecting the community's prosperity.","narrative":"Union Cemetery is a four-acre burial ground in South Greensboro, North Carolina, established in the early 1880s by the congregations of St. Matthew's Methodist, St. James Presbyterian and Providence Baptist churches as a cemetery for Black residents. Burials continued until 1940, and the stone markers include granite, marble and cast stone forms such as slant markers, steles, obelisks and urns. The cemetery is connected to Warnersville, a settlement founded in 1868 by Quaker Yardley Warner on lots sold to freed slaves. Among those buried here are community leaders such as Harmon Unthank, a bank director, and Dr. James C. Waddy, a physician. The size and craftsmanship of the gravestones are regarded as evidence of the relative prosperity of the Warnersville community and the professional standing of its residents, and the cemetery is one of the few remaining physical links to that community.","period_of_significance":"1882-1940","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Most gravemarkers are upright and in good condition, though some are overturned and finials have been lost; the city maintains the grounds minimally.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:40.990676-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/7179/47717967/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/93001142.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93001142/b177621c51-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93001142/b177621c51-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Rhpotter","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Cemetery_(Greensboro,_North_Carolina)_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Rhpotter</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Cemetery_(Greensboro,_North_Carolina)_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717967","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Cemetery_(Greensboro,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21016287"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/guilford-county/union-cemetery-93001142/"}