Charlotte's historic cemeteries

Old paving, grass and the ground beside monuments can present different access challenges. We have not checked gradients, surfaces, curb cuts, seating intervals, toilets or a continuous wheelchair route. If those affect your visit, ask about the particular entrance and places you want to reach rather than assuming that public access means every part is step-free.

Tours and events

Use the nonprofit's Elmwood and Pinewood interactive maps to choose a few people in advance. Settlers' uses a separate map image. For a guided visit, ask the cemetery office or friends group about arrangements; availability and any requested donation should be confirmed directly.

Voices from the Past offers living-history programming, and After Dark has its own event information. After-dark access requires the governmental authorization specified in City Code §7-12; an advertised program does not create general permission to enter at night. Confirm the organizer's authorized event arrangements, arrival instructions, date, ticket requirements and audience guidance for the specific program you want.

Choose your visit

For a short stop in Fourth Ward, choose Settlers' Cemetery at 200 West 5th Street. For a broader look at nineteenth- and twentieth-century Charlotte, choose the connected Elmwood and Historic 9th Street Pinewood grounds at 700 West 6th Street. These are separate destinations; the addresses are not interchangeable. City cemetery information

Allow about 30–45 minutes for a first look at Settlers', or 60–90 minutes for a selective Elmwood/Pinewood visit. Those are editorial planning allowances, not measured walking times or promises that you will see every monument. Choose a few subjects before you arrive, leave time to return to your entrance and do not turn a short outing into a search for every name on a map.

• Ordinary entry: free, according to the nonprofit's visitor FAQ. Ticketed programs, parking and transport are separate
• Hours: plan ordinary visits for daylight. City Code §7-12 prohibits going onto or across City cemetery grounds between sunset and sunrise except for governmentally authorized cemetery business or maintenance. This does not guarantee that every gate or vehicle entrance is open throughout daylight; confirm specific access with City Cemeteries: 704-336-2123
• Access needs: a step-free route to every grave, accessible parking and current toilet provision have not been verified. Ask the City about your intended entrance and specific destination before traveling
• Maps: Elmwood, Pinewood and Settlers'

Elmwood, Pinewood and Potter's Field

As Settlers' Cemetery filled up, Charlotte began buying land for a new municipal burial ground in 1853. Further purchases eventually brought the landholding to 100 acres. That is an acquisition history, not the size of the grounds a visitor sees today: the Commission's 2001 survey described the complex as about 72 acres. Designation report

The grounds developed into three adjoining burial areas shaped by race and means:

• Elmwood, historically reserved for white residents
• Pinewood, historically reserved for Black residents
• Potter's Field, where the city buried white residents who could not afford a private plot

This was a physical system as well as a social one. Pinewood had a separate Ninth Street entrance, and a fence divided it from Elmwood. County history

Council member Fred Alexander led the campaign to remove that barrier. In January 1969, the fence came down. The City's account identifies Alexander as Charlotte's first Black council member since the nineteenth century. Elmwood and Pinewood now operate as connected grounds, but the history of their division remains central to understanding them.

Read the landscape with care. A large monument tells you something about a family's resources and how it wanted to be remembered; a patch with few visible markers does not establish that nobody is buried there. The designation report now includes a September 2024 addendum on connections to enslavement. It is a useful companion to a visit that looks beyond the best-known memorials. Report and addendum

Who is buried there

The names below make a useful starting selection, not a complete roll call:

• Edward Dilworth Latta, the developer associated with Dilworth, is buried in Elmwood
• Daniel A. Tompkins, the industrialist, is also buried in Elmwood
• S. S. McNinch, a former Charlotte mayor, belongs to the same civic and business history
• William W. Smith, the Black designer and builder, is remembered by his distinctive mausoleum in Pinewood

The County's cemetery history introduces these people and others. For Pinewood, the City's own page also points to physician and diplomat John T. Williams, business owner Thad Lincoln Tate and A.M.E. Zion bishop Thomas H. Lomax.

Smith provides a particularly useful connection between a cemetery visit and the surviving city. His work includes the Mecklenburg Investment Company building at 223 South Brevard Street. Formed in 1921, the company commissioned a place for Black businesses, professionals and community organizations. The County describes the resulting building as Charlotte's first office building built exclusively by and for Black professionals and businessmen. The purpose-built offices, shops and meeting spaces made it a center of community life. MIC history

The building survives from Brooklyn, the neighborhood dismantled by urban renewal. Comparing it with Smith's mausoleum gives the visit a subject to follow: a person's work in the city and the way he is commemorated. The Pinewood map labels Smith's stop E2. Search for “Smith,” select that entry, then select the marker for its short biography. The map was tested online; the route to the mausoleum has not been inspected for access conditions.

Old Settlers’ Cemetery

Settlers' Cemetery, 200 West 5th Street, is Charlotte's first municipal burial ground. It is a different scale of visit from Elmwood/Pinewood: a chance to slow down within Fourth Ward and read a few names rather than cover an extensive set of grounds. The City lists it as inactive; no new burials take place here.

Its earliest known burial is Joel Baldwin, who died in 1776. The town formally set the site aside for cemetery use in 1815. A general closure to new burials followed in 1867, although special permission allowed some burials until 1884. Elmwood's creation therefore did not produce an immediate, simple cutoff. Settlers' designation report

The cemetery includes Thomas Polk and other prominent early Charlotteans, but its history is not limited to the people with the most legible monuments. The County identifies the northwest corner as an area used for the burial of enslaved people connected to families interred here. County history

The nonprofit's Settlers' map page opens an enlarged photograph of the entrance map and name index. It is an image, so it does not work like a searchable list of names. Review it on a larger screen before visiting if small text is difficult for you. For an individual burial-record question, use the City cemetery office, 704-336-2123.

Visiting

The City of Charlotte owns and operates the cemeteries. Historic Elmwood Pinewood is their nonprofit friends group and a useful source for maps, preservation work and programs. Elmwood/Pinewood remain active burial grounds; Settlers' does not accept new burials. City information

Arriving and parking

For Elmwood/Pinewood, start with the 700 West 6th Street entrance. The nonprofit's visitor FAQ permits parking within the grounds. Follow signs and staff directions, and leave roads and funeral access unobstructed. This guide has not confirmed the position or availability of accessible parking spaces.

For Settlers', use 200 West 5th Street, near Church Street. Plan for metered street parking or a nearby deck; cemetery entry being free does not make the journey or parking free. Check the posted rate and restrictions where you actually park.

Use daylight for ordinary visits: City Code §7-12 restricts access between sunset and sunrise, with an exception for governmentally authorized cemetery business or maintenance. Daylight is not a promise that every gate or vehicle entrance will be open. For specific entrance arrangements, access to a plot or temporary closures, confirm with City Cemeteries: 704-336-2123. Follow on-site signs; the Historic Landmarks office's business hours are not a cemetery gate timetable.

Continue the story

For a visit with one clear theme, choose Smith and Pinewood, then read about Brooklyn. For a wider look at the city's buildings, continue with the Uptown architecture walk. Treat them as separate activities rather than an assumed accessible loop: this guide has not timed the transfer between destinations or checked every street crossing.

Checked online on October 4, 2026. Historical sources and visitor information were reviewed, and selected maps and links were tested in a desktop browser. The grounds have not been walked for this review. Gate arrangements, services and access conditions may change.