Historic Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery

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Historic Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Historic Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery, 700 W. 6th Street, Charlotte, NC.

HEPI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to preserving, restoring, enhancing, and sharing the original historic and park-like atmosphere of
Elmwood Pinewood and Settlers’ Cemeteries.

08/30/2026

Elmwood and Pinewood sit side by side today, but for over a century, a fence stood between them. Under segregation, Charlotte's Black residents were laid to rest in Pinewood, with its own separate entrance off 9th Street. In 1968, Fred Alexander, Charlotte's first Black city council member since the 19th century, led the effort to take that fence down. In January 1969, a tie vote in City Council was broken by Mayor Stan Brookshire, and the fence came down the very next day.

A piece of it still stands at the eastern edge as a reminder. We invite you to visit, walk the grounds, and honor the lives and the history held here.

08/29/2026

By 1853, Charlotte had outgrown Settlers' Cemetery, and Elmwood was born, a "rural-style" cemetery designed to flow with the land, where early residents came to walk, picnic, and (true story) even race carriages.

More than 170 years later, it's still one of uptown's most beautiful green spaces: a Level I Accredited Arboretum full of remarkable trees, striking monuments, and the stories of Charlotteans who shaped this place, including Dr. Annie Alexander, the first female physician in the South.

Bring your walking shoes and a little curiosity.

📍 700 West 6th Street

08/28/2026

Before the skyline, there was Settlers'. Tucked at 5th and Church, this is Charlotte's oldest burial ground, the town's original common cemetery, laid out beside the church where the earliest Charlotteans worshipped back in the 1700s.

Today it feels less like a cemetery and more like a pocket park: winding brick paths framed by uptown high-rises, with over 300 marked graves holding some of the very first names in our city's story.

Come take a quiet walk through the beginning of Charlotte.

📍 200 West 5th Street

08/14/2026

Your next event deserves a backdrop nobody else has 🖤

Picture it: 70+ acres of history, park-like grounds, monuments with stories, and the queen city skyline sitting right behind you. elmwood pinewood + settlers' cemeteries aren't just a piece of charlotte's past... they make for a genuinely one-of-a-kind venue for your next gathering.

Whether it's a community event, a photo-worthy celebration, or something a little unexpected, we've got the space (and the atmosphere) to make it unforgettable.

Every rental helps preserve and restore these historic grounds, so your good time gives back too.

Ready to plan something special? Drop us a message or email [email protected] to get started 🤍

📍 charlotte, nc

07/31/2026

Plot B2 belongs to the Kennedy-Bearden family. And while their most famous descendant is buried elsewhere, the story that connects them to Charlotte is still alive all around the city today.

These were the grandparents of Romare Bearden, one of the most celebrated American artists of the 20th century and, in 1971, the first African American artist to have a solo show at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Bearden was born in Charlotte in 1911, and the summers he spent here with the family resting in this plot became the raw material for the art that made him famous.

Charlotte has never forgotten that. Walk through Uptown today and his name is everywhere. His mosaic "Before Dawn" hangs wall-sized inside the Main Library at 6th and Tryon, built from memories of his childhood here. And just a few blocks from where he was born, Romare Bearden Park opened in 2013, a 5.4-acre green space designed around his collages, complete with gardens named for the women in his family whose real gardens once inspired his work.

The famous name lives on in parks and museums. But the family who shaped him rests right here.

Want to meet more of the people who rest here? Take our virtual cemetery tour on our website.

07/28/2026

Caesar Blake spent his life building things that outlived him.

His stone in Plot H1 lists title after title, but one line says the most: "Organized and Built the M.I.C. Building."

That's the Mecklenburg Investment Company Building. In 1921, Blake brought together a group of Black community leaders to finance and build it in Charlotte's Brooklyn neighborhood. It was the first building in the city planned and built by Black leaders to house Black-owned businesses, offices, and fraternal groups. Designed by W. W. Smith, Charlotte's first Black architect, it's still standing uptown today, one of the last pieces of that world left after urban renewal erased the neighborhood around it.

Caesar Blake didn't just belong to his community. He built the place where it could gather.

Want more stories like his? Take our virtual cemetery tour on our website.

07/27/2026

Carl Kiser was five years old. Five years, four months, and three days.

His stone in Plot S3 reads: "Death caused by Druggist's Mistake." In 1907, there were no safety seals or double checks at the pharmacy counter. One wrong ingredient in a prescription meant to help him, and his family lost their little boy.

Charlotte in 1907 was a city on the rise. The population had jumped from around 18,000 in 1900 to over 34,000 by 1910, one of the largest growth spurts in the city's history. The cotton mills were booming, new suburbs like Dilworth were filling in, and the city limits were expanding to keep up. But medicine had not caught up with the growth. Stories like Carl's were a quiet reminder of how fragile life still was, even in a place moving as fast as Charlotte.

If the story sounds familiar, it echoes a scene in "It's a Wonderful Life," where a young George Bailey stops his grieving boss from accidentally filling a prescription with poison. Carl didn't have a George Bailey. But his story lives on here.

Want to hear more like it? Take our virtual cemetery tour on our website and walk through the fascinating, heartbreaking, and unforgettable stories resting here.

07/04/2026

Wishing Charlotte a happy 4th of July. Today’s a good day to celebrate, rest, and remember the history that got us here.

If you get a chance this weekend, come by and soak in a little history. It’s worth the stop!

06/26/2026

It's hot out there, but so is Charlotte history.

Come walk the grounds and see where Charlotte's story began. Historic Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery has been a part of this city since the 1800s, and there's always something new to discover when you slow down and look around.

Bring water, wear sunscreen, and come explore. We'll be here.

06/10/2026

Tomorrow, June 11th, Charlotte gets to be part of something that matters.

48 State Tour Archives Atlas Preservation is a national movement traveling all 48 states to clean and preserve historic cemeteries before they're lost. Their next stop is Old Settlers' Cemetery, one of Charlotte's oldest landmarks dating back to 1776, home to Thomas Polk and generations of people who built this city.

Show up, help out, and be part of preserving something that belongs to all of us. Free and open to the public, 9am to 3pm at 200 W 5th St. Paid parking is available in the First Presbyterian parking lot across Poplar Street, between Fifth Street and Trade Street.

Full details at 48statetour.com.

We hope to see you there!

Address

700 W. 6th Street
Charlotte, NC
28202

Website

https://www.historicelmwoodpinewood.org/

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