Westwood Cemetery Gets More Space, Carrboro’s Roads Get New Surfaces

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT

CARRBORO–After more than a century of burials, Carrboro is renovating and expanding Westwood Cemetery before it runs out of space to hold the dead.

“The number of plots available at Westwood was running very low prior to the new design being approved,” Public Works Director Kevin Belanger said in an email interview.

The town’s budget for fiscal year 2026 includes $165,000 for the first phase of Westwood’s renovation. The upgrades include a loop road around the cemetery, a new fence and improvements to the drainage.

History of the Dead

The 8.73-acre Westwood Cemetery is located at 401 Davie Rd. on the corner of Fidelity St. It includes 2.4 acres of undeveloped open space and 2.4 acres of woods. Westwood was established as the “new” Carrboro cemetery around 1933, according to the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill, and may have been either segregated or whites-only until the 1960s. The town website says the earliest recorded grave is from 1904, belonging to one Roger Davis. However, the property also has a few unmarked gravesites of unknown age.

Belanger said Westwood is one of two town-owned cemeteries. The old Carrboro cemetery — established in 1860, according to the Preservation Society — has one space left, leaving Westwood as “the future for cemetery plot sales. There are other alternatives regionally, but those are private or in other communities.”

The Westwood Master Plan

Back in 2023, the Carrboro Town Council approved a master plan for expanding and improving the cemetery and adding to the internment options. The new Westwood features in the plan include an expanded burial area; a new loop road; walking paths; a rain garden; a reflection area and memorial wall; more trees; the new fence; and undeveloped green space. The loop is designed to provide easy access to the gravesites while also minimizing congestion.

“The new plan allows for natural burials and has smaller cremains plots available,” Belanger said. “The only option prior to the design approval was a standard plot size.” Plot owners had the option to bury a container of cremains on a standard plot, but “there was no option to buy a smaller plot just for cremains.”

Under the master plan, the interment options include 631 conventional plots, 410 natural plots, and 631 small plots for cremains. The second phase of the plan will add landscaping, utilities, flagpoles, walking paths, and columbaria for holding cremains. The columbaria and the Westwood ossuary will be able to have more than 1,400 cremains between them.

The total cost is estimated at $630,000. The town website says potential revenues from plot sales could exceed $1.5 million. The pace of completion depends on the availability of funding and the demand for the added burial plots.

Road renovations

Carrboro is resurfacing sections of E. Braxton Foushee Street, Fidelity Street, Lindsay Street, Roberson Street, Rocky Point, Tar Hill Drive, and Wood Walk Court this summer. The work began the first week of August.

The town website says the resurfacing project will affect 27,574 square yards of town roadway. The first phase involves upgrading sidewalk ramps to comply with ADA standards and to repair existing curb and gutter systems. Subsequent phases will include pavement milling, resurfacing, maintenance hole adjustments, pavement markings, and a new sidewalk on Roberson Street.

Fraser Sherman has worked for newspapers, including the Destin Log, the Pensacola News-Journal and the Raleigh Public Record. Born in England, he’d still live in Florida if he hadn’t met the perfect woman and moved to Durham to marry her. He’s the author of several film reference books and has published one novel and several short story collections. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocalReporter.press