This is the cemetery for members of the black community in East Flat Rock and of the Mud Creek Missionary Baptist Church. The cemetery is located on Highland Park Road between Highland Lake Road and West Blue Ridge Road in East Flat Rock.
For more information on the Mud Creek Missionary Baptist Church, click on the “Communities” icon at the top of the page, then East Flat Rock.
This is one of the most historical cemeteries in Henderson County related to the black history in the county.
There are several former slaves with grave sites in the cemetery
These include George L. Potts (1844-1925) and Louvenia King Potts (1846-1932). Louvenia King was a slave of Judge Mitchell King, a summer resident of Flat Rock who owned the Argyle estate. The couple married at Argyle and was given land on Glassy Mountain, where they lived until moving to East Flat Rock. Their descendants still live in the community.
Israel Simmons (1832-1904) was born a slave in South Carolina. He was an original founder of the church and a deacon of the church for 28 years. Many of his descendants live in the community.
John C. Markley (1848-1921) and his wife, Sally Markley (1854-1959), who was a famous midwife and granny doctor for many years in the community, were former slaves who moved to the community from the Kingdom of the Happy Land in the Green River community. One of the couple’s sons was James R. Markley (1887-1965). He was one of the most famous blacksmiths in Henderson County in the first half of the 1900s, along with his brother J.G. Markley (1881-1932).
Jackson H. Holback (1833-1915) and his wife, Flora (1840-1895), were former slaves with graves in the cemetery. Jackson H. Holback helped organize Mud Creek Missionary Baptist Church and was a member of the church for 50 years. He also helped organize the first “Baptist Association for Colored People” in this section of Western North Carolina. Holback served during the Civil War with Co. K, the U.S. 40^th Colored Infantry. He was a slave of Charlestonians who lived in Flat Rock during the summer months. It is not known if he left Henderson County to join the U.S. Colored Infantry in Tennessee or left from a plantation in South Carolina. There is also Amanda Holback (1850-1913), his second wife, who was also born a slave.
Henry E. Darity was born in 1863, two years before his family gained their freedom. He died in 1938.
Augustus Logan (1857-1950) and his wife, Mary (1850-1921), were also former slaves who are buried in the cemetery.
Others include the Rev. D. Hunt (1860-1927), Henrietta North (1864-1940), Nancy Johnson (1857-1949), Ellen Jenkins (1860-1916), and W.M. Jenkins (1858-1905).
Persons with grave sites in the cemetery were not just former slaves or descendants of slaves from the summer estates in Flat Rock. Some were members of the “Kingdom of the Happy Land” and their descendants, such as the Markley brothers. These persons came to the area after the Civil War from other states, many from South Carolina, who had joined the group on the walk from Mississippi.
In addition to the descendants of the above, other members of the black community and their descendants also have graves in the cemetery. These surnames include Alston, Ashe, Campbell, Cash, Collins, Creasman, Downs, Edwards, Gibbs, Goodwin, Greene, Jones, Jordan, Lewis, Love, McKissick, Parks, Sims, Singletary, Smith, Williams, Walker, Washington, Wilson and others.