North Carolina Genealogy

It’s sad to see private cemeteries relocated for development. But that’s exactly the story from the link above. On the outer banks of North Carolina in a place called Martin’s Point…..

In recent weeks, orange survey sticks have appeared, surrounding the fence and disappearing into the twisted underbrush behind it.
Willis Gallop and his wife, Mary, have been buried there, the only private cemetery in the community, since 1848. Rightfully so, since it’s near where the reputed pirate built his plantation house and tied his schooner.

I’m sure the couple didn’t expect to be making another move… Unfortunately according to a lawyer it sounds as though if the cemetery was on private property the rights to that were transfered by deed. I can’t imagine how many private property cemeteries there are throughout the state, but it would be a tremendous loss if they were all to be relocated and vanish from knowledge. (Unfortunately, many vanish from neglect as well.)

There are several living descendants interviewed for the article and there is a bit more on Willis Gallop…

According to “Legends of Willis and Hodges Gallop: A Cautionary Tale,” written by Marty Holland, another sixth-generation descendent, Willis Gallop, who died Oct. 20, 1848, at 81 years and 21 days of age, had reportedly owned 6,000 acres of land and 100 slaves. A trader in such things as rum and salt and nails, he sailed his three schooners to the West Indies, Martinque and Bermuda. Rumors of lost treasure – either hidden at the bottom of a well at Martin’s Point or dumped in Martin’s Point Creek – are part of Gallop’s legacy. Holland cites a story of lost treasure from the book “Touring the Backroads of North Carolina’s Upper Coast” by Daniel W. Barefoot.

There is a writeup with the above title available online at www.rootsweb.com/~nccurrit/tales/galloplegends.html