Thanks to instructions from Steve Wolfgang, I successfully located and photographed James O'Kelley's gravesite this past weekend. While the O'Kelley Chapel is located on hwy 751 about 2 miles south of I-40 (exit 274), James' grave is not in the graveyard directly behind the chapel (altho there are several O'Kelley's buried there).

For our Stone-Campbell archives, here are directions to James' grave:

Take exit 274 = hwy 751 off interstate 40 (about 2 miles east of the Chapel Hill/hwy 54 exit), and drive south (relatively, *away* from Durham, if you're driving from the Chapel Hill area, you'll turn right) on 751.

To get to O'Kelley's Chapel, drive ca. 2 miles, the chapel is on the right.

To get to James' gravesite, drive ca. 1 mile from I-40, turn right on a dirt/gravel road (this road is almost directly across from the point where Fayetteville Road dead ends into the Hwy 751). Drive ca. 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile on that road. When the road takes a sharp turn to the right, look for a run-down wood-frame house on the left, with an unoccupied trailer just past it on the left. Turn into the dirt driveway (I stopped to ask permission, since you must walk thru that yard to get to the grave). The graveyard is about 50 yards behind the house. I asked directions from a black man who lives in that house; he told me to follow a mowed trail around some pines that are behind the house. The graveyard is about 50 yards on the left. O'Kelley's monument is a tall spire at the far end of the graveyard.

I can't believe some historical society has not arranged for the purchase and/or upkeep of the graveyard in which James' grave is located. There are signs of minimal upkeep (mowed trail; it appears someone occasionally mows down the weeds in the graveyard itself).


Joel Elliott
Department of Religious Studies
101 Saunders Hall, CB #3225
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
(919) 962-5666
(919) 962-1567 (Fax)
(919) 967-8482 (H)
EMAIL: elliott@email.unc.edua


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