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Carlton Cemetery
Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina

Country Trail, Leesville Twp. Wake Co, NC

Lat: 35° 53' 09"N, Lon: 78° 42' 52"W

Contributed by Shirley Olson, Mar 04, 2006 [shirley32olson@yahoo.com]. Total records = 4.

Located at the end of Country Trail in a densely wooded area, which is east of Hwy 1835 and on the west side of Raleigh.

Located in a densely wooded area, this small family cemetery, which has been abandoned for many years, was found by Earl Flannery, while using a metal detector. He recognized it as the proper location for a headstone that had been left on his driveway 2 years ago, in April 2004, by a prankster.

Mr Flannery realized that another headstone that had been dropped off at the Wendy's Restaurant about 30 miles away in Cary, about the same time, must also belong in this cemetery. There had been a widespread search for that tombstone's home. The police and a lot of interested people got involved, but to no avail, so the headstone remained in police custody for all this time.

I posted a message on the Internet during the time we were looking but had completely forgotten about it until 2 days ago when I got a message that the cemetery was found and one tombstone returned, and that the police were going to bring out the other one. Mr. Flannery, who had the other headstone, is a computer user and had found my post and e-mailed me. We both notified the police who are delighted to get this off their books. It is like a miracle that this turned out so well.

Thanks to Mr. Flannery and the Cary Police Dept. which has been storing the headstone for 2 years there is a happy ending to this tale.

I surveyed this cemetery on Mar 03, 2006.

- Shirley Olson

Carlton, A. E., b. 8 May 1863, d. 4 Jan 1930
Carlton, Elizabeth, b. 11 Jan 1829, d. 1 Jan 1904, with footstone E.C. (the headstone found in Cary at Wendy's)
Carlton, J. M., b, 17 Mar 1853, d. 19 Jun 1925, with footstone J. M. C. (the headstone left on Mr. Flannery's driveway)
Carlton, Mattie E., b. 15 Jul 1873, d. 17 Nov 1891

Misc:
There is one depression that appears to be another unmarked grave