On Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Historic Halifax State Site there will be a short project overview before visitors go to New Cemetery at 80 J.S. Pope Road. 

New Cemetery is a gravesite for many Halifax County African-Americans who were born from 1838 through the present.

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This historic African-American cemetery has over 235 documented interments. 

Of the 235-plus graves, 30 or more of them have been identified as veterans. 

Tours of the cemetery will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Each known grave of veterans will be marked with American flags.

The people buried there are those who worked, raised families, worshiped, and made contributions to the community in Halifax County. 

Besides veterans, farmers, laborers, teachers, ministers, medical providers, and Broadway stars are buried there. 

Those interred include ancestors reaching back to eras encompassing enslavement and the Civil War — 1619-1865 — Reconstruction and segregation — 1866-1954 — and the Civil Rights Movement through the 1970’s to the present day.

Like many African-American cemeteries, over time the cemetery was overgrown as the years passed without anyone to maintain it.

In April a group of descendants of those buried at the cemetery along with assistance from the Edward Cheek House Museum and North Carolina African-American Heritage Center registered the cemetery with the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural resources and began working to restore it.