Henry Mordecai gave land here in 1867 for the Confederate and Hebrew cemeteries, and Historic Oakwood Cemetery was founded in 1869, spreading across 102 acres near the North Carolina State Capitol. This burial ground covers 102 acres, and within it are two specially designated areas: the Confederate Cemetery, located on the original two and a half acres, and the Hebrew Cemetery — both given for that purpose by Henry Mordecai in 1867. As you stand here, you are among names that trace the state’s civic and military history: Confederate Army general George B. Anderson; Governor Charles B. Aycock and Cora Lily Woodard Aycock, First Lady of North Carolina and president of the North Carolina Railroad; Lucile Aycock McKee, president of the Junior League of Raleigh; U.S. Congressman George Edmund Badger and John Heritage Bryan; U.S. Senator Josiah W. Bailey; jurist William Horn Battle and Kemp P. Battle; Governor Thomas Bragg; State Librarian Carrie Lougee Broughton; temperance activist Needham B. Broughton; Confederate Army officer Henry King Burgwyn Jr.; basketball player Lorenzo Charles; and Confederate Army general William Ruffin Cox.
The Confederate and Hebrew cemeteries Henry Mordecai gave lie among these 102 acres before you.