he OLD SPRING HILL CEMETERY is a small well-kept cemetery that sits back off of Fair Bluff Road (SR 2256) in Sterlings Township (Barnesville area), Robeson County, NC. It is about 1/4 mile from the HISTORIC WILLIAMS-POWELL HOUSE that is located at 2298 Fair Bluff Road (west side SR 2256, approx. 1.0 mi south of junction with SR 2255 - Tobacco Road).

There is NO (NAME) SIGN on the cemetery; however, over the years, it has been known locally as SPRING HILL CEMETERY (pre-1871), OLD SPRING HILL CEMETERY (currently) and the WILLIAMS CEMETERY (1992), possibly because of it's proximity to a nearby branch from which a spring was dug in the side of the hill and also because some of the earliest burials were members of the Williams family (1884-1916).

The oldest dated headstones are those of four children (ages 2,4,8 & 8) of Everitt Page and wife Obedience 'Beedy' Jane Hayes. The children died Sep. 25, Sep 26, Sep 28 and Sep 29, 1875, respectively; however many other gravesites are so old that their headstones no longer exist, their caskets have long since deteriorated and their sunken gravesites are all that remain.

As of May 15, 2014, there are approximately 87 burials recorded in this cemetery. On this date, Jason Rogers of Orrum, made a photographic and written listing of ALL the gravesites and created Memorial pages for those not already listed on the website FIND-A-GRAVE, OLD SPRING HILL CEMETERY, Robeson County, NC. At that time, there were only 7 listings, so Jason added Memorial pages for approximately 80 persons.

Three other transcriptions of the cemetery are known to exist: 1) In the book VANISHING ANCESTORS, Cemetery Records of Robeson Co, NC, Volume Three, Copyright 1992, Peggy T. Townsend, the cemetery is referred to as NO. 42 WILLIAMS CEMETERY (S. of Barnesville, on rd. 2256). Pages 55-57 list the names of 63 persons as being buried there. 2)In 1998, Hilda Small of Fair Bluff, NC listed 76 names plus 3 graves marked with a wooden marker but no name. 3) An additional listing was made in May 2014 by Wayland Bagley 'Butch' Lennon, Jr. of Fairmont, NC with 79 names. All of these lists were cross-referenced with Jason Rogers' to insure that no names were overlooked.

The cemetery is historical in that it predates the original SPRING HILL BAPTIST CHURCH, which was constituted in April 1871. "This first church house sat to the left of the old cemetery known then and today as the Spring Hill Cemetery." "Giles Williams gave the land upon which the first church was located." - from HISTORY OF BARNESVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH, Nash A. Odom, Historian, Robeson Assn., October 23, 1963.

In 1892, a new SPRING HILL BAPTIST CHURCH was built at its present location - 234 Barnesville Church Road, Orrum, about three (3) miles from the Cemetery; however it was not until 1912 the name was changed to BARNESVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH.

The land for the second and present building was given to the church by Richard Rhodes Barnes. It contained one acre and the Deed is recorded in the Register of Deeds Office in the Robeson County Courthouse (July 16, 1898, Book YYY, Page 419).

The Cemetery is located on privately-owned land (approx. 1/4 acre +/-) of the daughters of Marshall Albert Sealey (1898-1967) and wife Gertrude Edwards Sealey (1909-1979). They are Lola Sealey Rouse of Orrum, NC and Norene Sealey Brady of Lumberton, NC.

Info. provided by
Karen M. Freeman
June 18, 2014