BOONE, NC — For Nancy Williams, The Mount Lawn Cemetery, is truly a special place. 

What You Need To Know

  • Boone's only public cemetery could be undergoing big changes

  • The Mount Lawn Cemetery is now under new ownership

  • There are plans to add a scattering garden to the cemetery

"My husband is right down here," Williams said.

She buried her husband here last year. He was a veteran. 

"He was, in my mind, the best there was in his career, and in 1982 the world acknowledged that, and he won the world auctioneer championship," Williams said.

He's buried not far from his relatives and just across the road from her parents.

"My dad was WWII, the Greatest Generation, they say," Williams said. 

She said this cemetery is not only filled with friends and family, but the history of Boone.

"What makes this place so special are the people that made the high country what it is," Williams said. 

She is now the president of the Mount Lawn Cemetery Association. In 2021, she says she received a call from a citizen who was worried about the cemetery. The current owner needed help and was selling it. 

"The cemetery was in need of some attention," Williams said. 

The road was full of pot holes, making it difficult for people to get in for funerals. Williams and others started the nonprofit and got to work patching the road immediately.

The association also have plans to redo the entrance. They want to add sections for other faiths and give people options on how they want to be put to rest.

The association plans to make upgrades to the mausoleum, like replacing rugs and fixing the roof, but the biggest change is the addition of a scattering garden.

"People can scatter their ashes in a natural setting if they chose to or a garden space," Williams said.

Williams said they won't stop until upgrades are done.

"It doesn't belong to anybody. It's ours. It's our responsibility. My parents generation helped make it what it is. Now it's our time to step up and take care of it. It's our generation," Williams said.

Williams and the association are asking for help making these changes and say donations are needed to complete everything.

They also say they are hoping the public will tell them what it is they want first and what is most important to those visiting their families because this cemetery is for the community.