Rose Hill Cemetery

Front: Rose Hill Cemetery was established in 1876 by the Piedmont Manufacturing Co., an early textile mill that began production in that same year. Originally known as Piedmont Cemetery, the earliest known burial dates to 1877. The cemetery served as final resting place for mill workers and their families, as well as members of the broader community, from 1876 until the mill’s closure in 1977. Reverse: The cemetery expanded in 1922 when G.W. McAbee donated three-and-a-half acres of land for burials. Oral tradition holds that the cemetery was named “Rose Hill” in honor of McAbee’s daughter, Rose May McAbee Norris, who died in 1922 and is buried here. Other notable burials include local newspaper editor and mill supervisor Albert Smith Rowell. In 1995 title transferred to the Rose Hill Cemetery Association, which continues to maintain the cemetery.