Local historian establishes monument to honor the county's former poor house cemetery

After writing a book about the old Randolph County Poor House and its nearby cemetery, Asheboro’s Ricky Allred paid for a monument to mark the area for future visitors and historians and in remembrance of those who once lived there.

The marker was installed on Oct. 30. At right, trees now mostly fill the area, but joining them are graves almost to the graveyard’s Caraway Mountain Road boundary. Only one of the 405 graves is marked.

There is no shoulder on either side of Caraway Mountain Road, so Allred suggests parking at the nearby C-Store and walking the quarter-mile to the site. When he’s there, Allred said he wears his high-visibility vest and steps carefully off the pavement when a car approaches. Allred said he hopes eventually the county will spring for a visitors center and a parking lot. The site was designated as a Cultural Heritage Site on Jan. 26, earlier this year.

Allred’s book is called ‘The Least of These: Caring for the Poor in Randolph County, North Carolina 1794-1922.’ The book is available in paperback on Amazon for $14.56.

In it are the findings through census data of who lived and died there, and stories about some of those residents. Allred is known locally for his Walk Thru the Past tours he gives for free generally once a month in the Old Asheboro Cemetery, 180 W. Salisbury St., Asheboro, in which he shares interesting stories about those who reside there.

His next walk is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 22, beginning at 2 p.m.