Mountain Strong - The Cemetery Remembrance Project

Join us at the Weaverville Community Center on April 23, 2026 at 7:00 PM (Eastern Time) as Project leaders share how community members, high school students, churches and colleges have come together to explore an often overlooked part of area history.

"What we're finding is not just history on paper," says Mars Hill University professor Jonathan McCoy, "but connections to families and stories that deserve to be told."

• Phyllis Utley, Project manager, will give us an overview of the project.
• Jonathan McCoy from Mars Hill University, Ellen Holmes Pearson from UNC Asheville, and Brian Tormey from Western Carolina University will talk about their work with students, including techniques for discovering and restoring burial sites.
• Jim Stokely from the Wilma Dykeman Legacy will draw connections between Wilma Dykeman (1920-2006) and the mission of The Cemetery Remembrance Project.

Baptist cemetery at Kona, North Carolina. Photo by Jim Stokely.

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Host or Publisher Wilma Dykeman Legacy