The First and Second Rounds of the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in Raleigh, North Carolina. I used the off day on Saturday to travel down to Wilmington, North Carolina. After touring the Battleship North Carolina, I traveled over to Oakdale Cemetery and visited the graves of some of the notable people who are buried there.
Oakdale Cemetery is rather large but I had down loaded a map prior to leaving home. Even with a map, it was still difficult locating some of the graves that I was looking for.
Perhaps the most notable person buried here is journalist David Brinkley who co-anchored the "Huntley Brinkley Report" with Chet Huntley on the NBC Television Network before moving over to ABC News and anchoring "This Week With David Brinkley." After driving around for several minutes I finally managed to locate his grave in one of the more secluded sections of the cemetery.
Henry Bacon and Rose Greenhow are buried near each other in one of the more historic sections of the cemetery. Bacon was the architect of the Lincoln Memorial. He submitted his proposal for the memorial in 1912 which featured a large Greek temple and a giant sculpture of Lincoln by Daniel Chester French. The Lincoln Memorial was completed in 1922 and turned out to be Bacon's last major project as he died on February 16, 1924 in New York City.
Rose Greenhow was renowned Confederate spy during the Civil War. With contacts at all levels of the Confederate Government, Greenhow was able to move vital message throughout the south ensuring a number of Confederate victories including the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. In 1864, she drowned when her rowboat overturned off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina while she was attempting to escaped a Union gunboat. She was honored with a full Confederate Military Funeral and buried in Oakdale Cemetery.
After spending a couple of hours touring Oakdale Cemetery, traveled over to Oleander Memorial Gardens, which is where Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Stagell is resting. Willie was the leader of the "We Are Family Pirates" which won the 1979 World Series. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.
Willie is entombed in the small outdoor mausoleum and it was easy locating his grave as Pirate fans had left baseballs and Pirate hats in tribute to the Hall of Famer.
After spending the day in Wilmington it was time to head back to Raleigh. Here is a short video documenting my visit to the cemeteries of the Wilmington Area.
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