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Grave houses also called a grave shelters were common in the South, especially Appalachian areas, to protect loved ones’ graves from the elements and grave robbers. They usually resemble small houses with peaked roofs, and could be made of logs, lumber, stones, or brick.

Grave houses are believed to be of European origin where house-tombs in Catholic countries were widespread. Most of the surviving grave houses can be found the in Appalachia, upper South and southeastern parts of the United States.

As soon as the burial was complete, some mountain folk constructed a grave house or grave shelter to cover the grave to provide extra protection from rain, snow and sleet. They were usually constructed in family cemeteries and covered little more than the length and width of the burial site. The typical grave house was rectangular with open sides, picket fencing and gables at the head and foot of the grave. Most of them were enclosed structures so that animals and grave robbers would not disturb the departed. Some grave houses varied from having low latticed houses resembling doll houses to some made out of rock with a tin roof.

Not much is known about the original purpose of grave houses but one can rationalize aside from superstition that they served to keep livestock and wild animals off the grave, provide shade for visiting family members, maintain a memorial to our loved ones and give comfort and a home to the dearly departed spirit. Some grave houses may contain more than one grave.

Today, grave houses of Appalachia are vanishing. Most of the grave houses constructed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have decayed, disappeared or have been torn down. Long past family cemeteries that have been isolated and forgotten have disappeared from the landscape due to neglect and overgrowth of foliage.

References:

•James K. Crissman, Death and Dying in Central Appalachia: Changing Attitudes and Practices (1994).

•M. Ruth Little, Sticks and Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Gravemarkers (1998).

•Mildred J. Miller and Pat M. Crooks, Time Is, Time Was: Gravestone Art, Burial Customs and History: Iredell County, North Carolina (1990).

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