Rare Privilege

This past week I had the opportunity to install a marker on the grave of my great, great, great, great grandfather.

Stephen Fulford died in 1834 and there was no marker for him in the Fulford Cemetery located on Fulford's Creek, across from Harkers Island in Carteret County, NC. His father and son were buried there and I am sure he was too since his plantation house was about 100 yards away.


The cemetery has about 15 marked graves going back to the late 1700s. I know it has been used as a family cemetery since the early 1700s.

There are many unmarked graves and the rising waters from Atlantic have eroded away graves over the years. His original marker may be out in the bay somewhere.

I've been to Fulford Cemetery several times and decided in 2009 to get a marker for him. Since I didn't have anyone in the local area who I could ask to help, it meant I would need to drive over to North Carolina with the 100+lb granite marker it in the trunk of the car.

It turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. I made a handle out of a piece of rope so I could carry the stone and move it around in the trunk of the car. A cousin in Georgia, who owns a funeral home, told me they have a monument truck with a hydraulic boom to move markers. I don't plan to do this very often so I'm not in the market for one of them yet.