Resting place of town’s founding families, a solider-comedian ... and a young boy

I'm sure few people enter the 8.5-acre Holly Springs Cemetery the way I did last week. Most people probably drive through the main vehicle access at Burt and Earp streets.

I arrived after a circuitous walk from downtown Holly Springs, starting with a stroll north on Raleigh Street to Earp Street, then headed west on Earp and continued after crossing Main Street, descending and ascending a dramatic hill and dip before coming upon the cemetery's northeast corner, still on the ascent about 100 yards shy of Earp's intersection with Burt.

The first thing that struck me about the cemetery at that northeast corner was the colorful blooms on the row of Wisteria trees that helped form the cemetery's eastern perimeter (see photo above). I spent a moment capturing some pictures of that. Then I proceeded west up the hill on the grounds toward a point where the topography plateaus.

Heading back to town after my stop there, on that same hill, I came across the vista you see in the photo leading off the post. I had seen this tall obelisk while ascending the hill upon my arrival, but making the composition you see here didn’t occur to me until exiting the cemetery.

In fact, I was outside the fence — on the grassy Earp Street shoulder —  and was well past the obelisk when I happened to turn back and glance a final time at the cemetery. That’s when I saw the tall figure again ... and that extended tree branch, as if it were trying to reach out and touch the monument. I walked up to the fence and positioned the camera atop one of the gate top openings and tripped the shutter.

The website for Holly Springs Cemetery says that some of the town’s founding families are buried in this cemetery. Among the first surnames that jumped out at me as I glanced at grave markers near the plateau were Collins and Mims. I don't know how many of those, if any, were “founding families.” But I know that Collins and Mims are family names associated with people who lived in the historic Greek Revival Leslie-Alford-Mims house in downtown Holly Springs.

I also know that the home’s original occupant, Archibald Leslie, opened a tailoring shop in the town, and that the house’s second occupant, George Benton Alford, is credited with being among the founding individuals of Holly Springs. Alford’s grandson H. Edwin Mims followed his grandfather as home occupant. I did not find Leslie or Alford’s graves, but I wasn’t actually out there to find them. There were parts of the cemetery I never made it to. I did, however, find the grave of H. Edwin Mims (see photo at right).

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog from a mobile device. To see a full gallery of images taken in Holly Spring Cemetery, click on the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: I did the entire shoot using my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens equipped with a polarizing filter. I made three exposures of each composition to meld into one image during post-processing using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HDR) software.

Above: Another plot for the Mims family, including a Collins family connection. 

Different perspective vistas, one looking northeast (above), featuring a marker in the foreground that might provide a possible “tell” about the origin of the Earp Street name; another looking southeast (below), which also provides a more expansive look at the background wisteria trees; and one looking northwest (second below).  

You don’t see many picture of grave markers like the one above, so I photographed this rarity in the cemetery’s newer section placed by the family of Lovie Ann York. I came across the markers of several soldiers during my stroll, and the reference to Haywood Hunter (below) being not just a father, friend and hero ... but also a comedian ... made me smile and made me wish I had known him. 

Also in the newer section were the marker for 7-year-old Davis Davenport (above) and 19-year-old Kristen Hunter (below). My newsman curiosity prompted me to hunt around on the Internet to see if I could find out what happened to them. I learned that Davis had been struck and killed by a vehicle backing out of his own driveway, but I could not find a story for Kristen. 

Views of the cemetery from the south end of the main access road (above) and from Earp Street, looking southeast, at the main entrance. 

The cemetery website stipulates that no structures other than markers are allowed on the grounds. I'm guessing this tiny sculpture atop one marker is permissible, and I can presume the restrictions were devised after the aforementioned obelisk was installed.

Above: The hilly Earp Street that I walked along in my stroll to the cemetery from downtown Holly Springs.

Next up: Churches in downtown Holly Springs

Previously in this series:

Carolina Brewing Company

Big development in downtown Holly Springs

Large development promises to give downtown Holly Springs a modern look

I'd been intrigued with the Holly Springs town name ever since Lee Ann and I started looking for a place in the Raleigh metropolitan area a few years ago. Realtors sent us a few tips of homes for sale there, in fact.

Since moving here, we have had only a few occasions to go to Holly Springs, and all of those were brief stops -- once to take Lee Ann's two dogs to a groomer, and another to visit the state motor vehicle licensed plate branch.

I made a more deliberate trip -- for photographs -- last week, and was struck by somewhat minimalist old town merchants' district where currently the classic architecture of the Town Hall (see photo leading off the post) dominates. Nothing wrong with that, for sure. West of Town Hall is an relatively new -- and architecturally striking -- community cultural center (below).

The cultural center, which houses the local library branch and a theater venue -- is nicely landscaped. Even nice is that there is ample free parking there.

Under construction in midst of all this -- and by "in the midst" I mean directly across West Ballentine Road from Town Hall -- is a massive modern building, to be called Town Hall Commons, that will divvy 52,000 square feet of space into sundry shops and dining. The development already has its own Facebook page. This project, combined with the new look of the cultural center, promises to give "old town" Holly Springs a modern face-lift ... and possibly deliver more economic and aesthetic appeal.

The photo above is a look at the three-level Town Hall Commons as of April 11; below is a look at the architect's rendering. They look very similar. Work there began in 2018, and completion is scheduled for this October. Among tenants already lined to fill space there are cell phone service provide Ting, Shoes and Brews, Uniquely.U bridal and formalwear, Body Shop Fitness and Osha Thai Kitchen and Sushi, according to Suburban Living,  which appears to be an online town news and promotions website.

Behind the main structure will be public parking facilities, including what appears to be garage space. Curiously, the Suburban Living article says Town Hall Commons promises to be "the first of two buildings to be built like this downtown," but there is no mention of where the other will be located.

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. To view a full gallery of my shoot of old downtown Holly Springs, click on the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: I shot the entire town profile with my Canon 6D using a Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens equipped with a polarizing filter. I made three exposures of each composition to meld into one image during post-processing using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HDR) software.

The historic Leslie-Alford-Mims house (above and below), which is on Avent Ferry Road at Center Street, a block from Main Street. A landmark across the street (second below) in front of My Way Tavern explains its significance through the years. 

Above and below: Glimpses of old and new downtown commerce, with Dewar's Interiors, Antiques and Florists at Center and Main (above), one of the oldest retail shops still in use downtown, and a side slice of Mims Towne Square (below), a modern commercial development just south of Dewar's. 

Above: The rear entrance to the cultural center, as seen from a separate parking lot. Outside the center are sculptures shown in the first two photos below. In the median of a roundabout leading to the rear parking lot, the sculpture in the third photo below can be found. A closeup of one of the children in that display is shown in the fourth photo below.

Above and first two below: Various views of the lobby area just inside the front door to Town Hall, including a look upward toward the second floor (second photo below) to catch this interesting, triangle-shape cutout. 

Above: Looking down from Town Hall's second floor to the main lobby below, the receptionist's desk at left. 

Above and below: Opposite end views inside the Town Council Chambers on the second floor of Town Hall. 

Above: A look down the second floor corridor in Town Hall.

The Masonic Lodge on Raleigh Street (above) and the spring-blossomed-framed walk nearby (below).

Above: More Spring blooms adorn the north perimeter of this home along Raleigh Street.

A street intersection sign (above), the back side of Town Hall facing Avent Ferry Road (below) and a closeup of the Town Hall cupola (second blow). 

Holly Springs Barber Shop, at Avent Ferry and West Ballentine roads, formerly served as the town post office. The new post office (below) is at 112 3rd Street. 

The Holly Springs Police Department (above) sits along the south side of Holly Springs Road, east of downtown. Fire Station No. 1 (below) is north of Holly Springs Road, on Flint Point Lane, a short distance from the police station. 

Next up: Holly Springs Cemetery

Previous in this series: 

Carolina Brewing Company