Historical Human Remains Discovered in West Asheville! Mystery in Backyard Finally Proven!

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Conda Painter's Quest to Honor Recently Discovered Graves
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Curator of the West Asheville History Museum, Conda Painter, credited for the discovery of the Wilson Chapel lost cemetery.
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For over 25 years, West Asheville Resident Conda Painter and her father Richard Painter researched and pondered about the remains buried near the old historic Wilson Chapel church. Her backyard was close to the site and it was always a mystery, with clues in historical records, newspaper clippings and even bits and pieces she now knows to be a coffin.

Conda Painter and her father Richard Painter in a 2006 article posted in the Mountain XPress
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The Asheville Watchdog Posted the Facts of the Story below...

“When we were putting it together we didn’t have the proof,” she said. “Now we have the proof.”

Painter spent decades puzzling over historical records, photos, newspaper clippings, and even bits and pieces of what she now knows to be a coffin. Painter and Benyshek, who have collaborated on the project for years, say there were no detailed records related to the church or its cemetery, only passing references.

“There’s no listing of things,” Painter said. “It was just kind of ignored.”

'Not everyone’s recollection of the cemetery had faded, however. People in the neighborhood in their 80s and 90s told Painter they thought people were buried there.'

“I interviewed quite a few neighbors and one neighbor who was in his 90s, he said he lived in the house that’s real near the corner of the backyard,” Painter said. “He said he remembers being like five or six years old hearing a wagon going up behind the house and taking a coffin. He said he always had nightmares about that.”

'An African-American man arrived at her home one day when she was young, Painter remembered. He said, “I’m looking for my great grandmother. Is there any chance that there’s been a cemetery up between one of these houses?”’ Painter said.'

“I thought, ‘Wow,’ and I didn’t get his name at the time, and to this day, I wished I knew that guy’s name.”

Painter’s efforts in 2006 were documented in a Mountain Xpress article, which pushed for an investigation of her backyard.

Benyshek was featured in that piece, which detailed her archaeological work. But she found no remains then.

When the city of Asheville approved development in 2021 at the lot near where Painter believed the cemetery was concealed, she shared the article on social media. State archaeologists visited the site that year. Development Services Director Ben Woody sent a letter to developers describing the visit.

“The purpose of this onsite visit was to meet with a representative of the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology to examine a property that may have been the historic location of Wilson Chapel A.M.E. Church and cemetery prior to its removal in 1925,” Woody wrote.

But then nothing happened.

“They put the brakes on it two years ago, and it’s just been sitting there,” said Painter.

Two months ago, Benyshek and a TRC team were contracted by the developer and returned to the site, looking in earnest for remains as workers dug foundations for the planned development.

“I started the study in earnest when it was clear we would be hired to conduct the work just short of two months ago and have worked on it when I had the time,” Benyshek said. “Until new development was planned, there was no one to look into the possibility that graves were still located on the property. When there were new development plans, the city could require the developer to do the study.”

The developer, Imran Alam of Reevan LLC, was unaware of the tract’s history, Benyshek said. “He has been incredibly patient and supportive.”

Alam bought the property about three years ago, he said, and planned to put a gas station there. When the city didn’t approve of that, he tried a retail center. As development of the site moved forward, part of it was cordoned off for the state’s archaeological study.

Alam recalled the moment last week when development suddenly stopped.

“I was standing with the architects and the engineers and she (Benyshek) brought me those bones. We stopped everything,” Alam said. Forensic police and a medical examiner arrived, he said, and the men working on the site became upset by their discovery.

The discovery and his conversations with archaeologists – a jolting reminder of slavery in America – initially unnerved him, Alam said.

“I thank God that we’re not living in that age,” he said.

“It was a shock,” Painter said, describing the moment workers found the first bones on the site. “I knew it was there, but actually seeing it was pretty breathtaking.”

The bones and coffin hardware were respectfully put back in the earth where they were found, said Alam, Painter, and Benyshek.

As Benyshek prepares her report, which will be sent to Alam and the city, Painter said she feels like years of work have paid off.

“It was a feeling of closure,” she said. “It’s like, the mystery is solved.”

Asked how she thought the Wilson Chapel cemetery saga relates to the erasure of African-American history and culture after the Civil War, Painter said she felt like there was a connection.

“To be honest, I feel like that is probably why it may have got just kind of pushed under the rug,” she said.

“Let the people rest”
Benyshek gives Painter full credit for bringing the cemetery out of obscurity.

“Conda Painter is to be credited completely for making sure the story of the Wilson Chapel cemetery was not forgotten,” Benyshek said.

Painter said she wants to start a GoFundMe for a monument to the nameless interred.

https://avlwatchdog.org/remains-at-cons ... 47Ey-RWDZk

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Another article detailing Conda Painter's quest, since the 1980's for the truth to be disclosed about remains buried in her backyard.
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/new ... OBpoDCwDgw

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