Angels of Snow Hill Cemetery
Mebane, NC
Mebane, NC
A historic resting place restored by the hands of family, neighbors, and volunteers, one headstone at a time.
Is to actively support the preservation of the historic Snow Hill Church Cemetery, located in Mebane, North Carolina, the final resting place of our ancestors and loved ones that contributes to the community’s cultural heritage.
On May 8, 1929, Rufus Woods and Will Thomas, trustees of the Snow Hill Church, purchased 1.56 acres for $5.00 to be used as a cemetery in the Pleasant Grove Township, Alamance County, North Carolina.
Stay up to date with our upcoming clean‑ups, guided tours and workshops. Use the buttons below to filter by activity and click "Add to Calendar" to save an event to your personal calendar.
TBD
The next cleanup and volunteer work day will be announced soon. Contact us to be notified when the date is confirmed.
TBD
Gain hands‑on skills in monument cleaning, resetting and conservation in this interactive workshop.
Every photograph is a moment of preservation: the gathering, the lifting, the cleaning, the care.
The Woods family. Generations connected to this sacred ground.
Family seated among the Woods and Fuller stones. A moment of presence with ancestors.
The tripod stands over the Crisp family headstone, ready for restoration.
President Mike Woods works the tripod chain hoist during a live lift.
Cleaning the headstone of Rufus Woods (1855–1934), founding trustee of the cemetery.
Hands at work. The Crisp family stone (1878–1976) is cleaned and stabilized.
Artificial flowers collected from gravesites as part of the clean-up effort.
Volunteers clear brush and overgrowth across the historic grounds.
Clearing the tree line. The steady, unglamorous work of preservation.
Funded by the community. Built for the work. Now active on the grounds, lifting headstones too heavy for hands alone, and resetting them with the care they deserve.
Under President Mike Woods’ direction, volunteers position the wooden tripod directly over the Crisp family headstone, dating to 1878. The chain hoist anchors at the apex; the stone waits, patient as ever.
It is a quiet moment before the lift. The moment when planning becomes work.
With the strap secured and the tension dialed in, the headstone rises an inch. Then two. Loved ones watch. A phone records. The stone, after decades of sinking and shifting, lifts cleanly off its base.
The work is not theatrical. It is exact. It is reverent. It is what the equipment was funded to do.
The Crisp family stone reads 1878–1976 on one panel and 1878–1951 on another. Two lives. One marker. Volunteers wipe away decades of grime, revealing the inscriptions clearly for the first time in years.
This is the work that is so often invisible: the slow, careful return of a stone to its proper place, and a name to its proper light.
Learn how we locate unmarked graves, map burial sites, and restore headstones through workshops, conservation treatments and community involvement.
Join us for upcoming activities including clean‑ups, outreach programs and seasonal celebrations.
We’d love to welcome you. See how to find us and what to expect when you arrive at Snow Hill.
Your generosity preserves our sacred grounds and funds programs that serve our neighbors.
Plan your visit to our historic grounds in Mebane. Learn about visiting hours, directions and how to respectfully explore this sacred space.
Get DirectionsSnow Hill Church has been officially reconstituted under a new Board of Trustees, and our leadership team is actively working to restore, preserve, and protect both the church and the historic Snow Hill Cemetery.
Online donations are now available to directly support cemetery preservation efforts. Contributions help fund essential equipment, materials, and volunteer safety needs that allow restoration work to continue responsibly and with care.
These efforts ensure that historic headstones are stabilized, protected, and preserved for future generations, honoring the lives and legacy of those laid to rest at Snow Hill.
In addition to financial support, we welcome community involvement through volunteering and direct outreach. If you have questions about donating, volunteering, or supporting the mission in other ways, we encourage you to contact our leadership team.
Join us on upcoming projects and clean‑up days as we preserve the grounds, reset headstones, and care for this sacred space. Let us know how you would like to help, and we’ll follow up with details.
Your support helps preserve Snow Hill Cemetery and protect historic headstones for future generations.
Equipment Goal Completed: Stone-Lifting Tripod
Thanks to generous supporters, our tripod fundraising goal has been 100% completed and the equipment has now been obtained for active use at Snow Hill Cemetery.
The tripod is already helping volunteers safely lift, reset, and stabilize historic headstones while protecting the stones during preservation work.
This equipment request has been fully funded and the tripod is now being used in active restoration work.
Secure payment processing is provided through Stripe for general donations.
To make a donation offline or ask questions:
Email President Mike Woods at
snowhillpreservation@gmail.com.
Angels of Snow Hill Cemetery is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. EIN: 33-2222232.
This is an ongoing collection of names, stories, and history.
As research continues, we will add and update the individuals remembered here. If you have information, photographs, or a personal story about someone buried at Snow Hill Cemetery, we invite you to share it with us.
Please email snowhillpreservation@gmail.com to help preserve and honor our shared history.
Discover the lives and legacies of those at rest here. Personal stories and milestones connect us to our past and inspire our preservation efforts.
Lonnie Woods (July 30, 1933 – March 23, 2006) and his wife of 46 years, Marion Woods (November 25, 1933 – February 23, 2020), were part of a proud lineage of the Woods family laid to rest at Snow Hill, including grandparents Rufus and Adeline Woods and parents Samuel and Neaver Woods.
Born in Mebane, North Carolina in 1933, Lonnie later moved to Washington, D.C., where he built a life with Marion, worked hard, and remained deeply connected to his North Carolina roots.
Read MoreHome State: New York
Military Rank: PFC (Private First Class)
Branch: U.S. Army
Conflict: World War II
Date of Birth: April 2, 1908
Date of Death: May 27, 1959
Countless individuals rest in unmarked graves. We honor their memory and work to identify and preserve their resting places through our research and restoration.
Learn HowHistoric Landscape
The wooded path shown here represents the original route used to reach Snow Hill Cemetery before the modern driveway was constructed. For generations, funerals at Snow Hill Primitive Baptist Church were carried out as walking funeral processions, with pallbearers carrying the casket by hand from the church to the burial ground.
This footpath, serving as a traditional bier path, formed the practical connection between the separate church parcel and the separate cemetery parcel. Families and community members followed this same wooded corridor as they bore the body to the grave, preserving a circulation pattern that shaped the historic landscape of the site.
View printable story PDF
Earliest known burial on the Snow Hill grounds.
Lonnie Woods is born in Mebane, North Carolina, a life that later connects Washington, DC opportunity with Snow Hill, family legacy.
Snow Hill Cemetery is the final resting place of men and women who served this country. We are actively documenting each veteran buried here as part of the Snow Hill Veterans Documentation Project, including a growing research roster of names provided for review.
United States Army
Edith Gray Watson
Sergeant First Class · April 13, 1947, March 14, 2001
Michael Woods
President
Rodney Woods
Vice President
Theresa Wright
Secretary
Pamala Harmon
Treasurer
Dr. Lisa Graham
Keith Gafford
Latricia Jones
Dr. Ricky A. Woods
Advisor
Cherese White
Director of Public Relations
China Campbell
Advisor to Board
Denise Robinson
Development Chair
Dwayne Hayes
Coordinator Chair
Ivey Jones
Public Communications
Todd Blackwell
Information Technology Director
Lisa Gant
Community Liaison