Mount Hope Cemetery
Why it's listed
Mount Hope Cemetery occupies a hilly site above Rocky Branch on Fayetteville Street, south of downtown Raleigh. The city established it about 1872 for its African American residents after the Black section of City Cemetery filled. The original 11.5 acres follow a picturesque plan of looping drives dividing the grounds into sections and family plots, and later additions through 1952 extend the grounds to about 29.3 nominated acres. Roughly 1,450 monuments remain, though records list over 7,000 burials. They include marble headstones and obelisks, mass-produced cast concrete markers, granite family monuments, and a granite fieldstone mausoleum built in 1902 for W. H. Matthews. Several stones carry the signatures of local carvers such as Columbus Stronach, C. A. Goodwin and the Cooper brothers. Cemetery records burned in the 1930s, so much early history is known mainly from the monuments. The cemetery was listed for its ethnic heritage as an early municipal Black cemetery, its landscape design, and its funerary sculpture, with 1872 to 1952 as its period of significance.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues it is one of the first municipal African American cemeteries in North Carolina, with statewide ethnic significance. It also has a locally significant picturesque garden cemetery plan and a collection of nineteenth and twentieth century funerary sculpture, including work by local carvers. It commemorates Raleigh's Black religious leaders, teachers, doctors, businessmen and artisans.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 08001292, listed January 8, 2009. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 1100 Fayetteville St., Raleigh |
|---|---|
| County | Wake County |
| Listed | January 8, 2009 |
| Reference number | 08001292 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | ca. 1872-1952 |
| Architect / builder | Monument carvers named include Columbus Stronach, C. A. Goodwin and the Cooper brothers; the cemetery designer is unknown. |
| Architectural style | N/A (picturesque garden cemetery design) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Black, Landscape Architecture, Art, Community Planning and Development |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still in use as a cemetery, operated almost exclusively for African Americans; many older monuments are weathered or fragmentary. |
| Acreage | 29.3 |
| Coordinates | 35.76672, -78.64521 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 08001292.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q21187941
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.