Knotts Island Community Cemetery

08/03/2026

A few years ago I was working in the cemetery, when I young lady who had parked along the roadside approached me. She was looking for the grave of Ryland Waterman. Although I had heard his name at sometime in my life, he was not someone I knew. Also as many times as I had walked this graveyard even since childhood I didn’t remember seeing his stone.
At any rate, try as I may on that hot summer day I could not locate it. I also checked cemetery records in a book published in published in 1985 in which all the graves were listed from the earliest up into the late 1980s. At that time the grave of Ryland Waterman was listed as unmarked.
Recently, the name Ryland came up in conversation with June Waterman, whose late husband Maurice, relationship to Ryland unknown.
June informed me that Ryland did have a headstone marking his grave and that I would be able to locate it a short distance from her husband’s grave.
Well here it is and obviously it was put in place after research for the book had been completed and before it was published. I also confirmed that the marker is now listed on the Find a Grave website.
How I overlooked the stone I’ll never know. It is my hope that young lady who was looking for the marker will see this or has since found it on Find a Grave.

Respectfully
Jimmy Cason

06/11/2026

For those not following the cemetery page.

We would like to introduce you to Jerome Bonaparte Etheridge. We stumbled upon his information while researching veterans buried in the cemetery. What little we know about him comes from documentation created by others. According to records Jerome was in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War as were many from Knotts Island and Princess Anne County (today Virginia Beach). He was assigned to the 5th Virginia Calvary, company A.

When Jerome Bonaparte Etheridge was born on 23 August 1848, in Virginia, United States, his father, Josiah Etheridge, was 36 and his mother, Sarah Frances Lee Wheatly, was 35. He married Malissa Anne Whitson in 1869, in Currituck, North Carolina. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 6 daughters. He lived in Currituck, Fruitville Township, (Knotts Island) in 1850 for about 30 years. He died on 2 July 1933, on Knotts Island, at the age of 84.

If you are a descendant of his we would love to know more about him. Where he lived her in the Island? Additional photos, other personal history etc.

Thank you to the person who entered the information on the ancestry website as well as Find a grave.

Respectfully
Jimmy & Barbara Cason

05/23/2026

Thank you Back Bay VFW and the Knotts Island Ruritan Club for honoring our veterans on this Memorial Day Weekend. There have been 80 America Flags placed on the graves of KNOWN veterans buried in our cemetery.
We are committed to continued research to identify other possible veteran graves.
As long as their names are spoken they will be remembered.
And although not buried in the community cemetery, but buried in a private cemetery within our community. We remember Pvt. Lloyd Waterfield World War I, who was killed in action on foreign soil far from his Knotts Island home.
This is the price of Freedom.

Respectfully
Jimmy & Barbara Cason

04/05/2026

As many will visit a cemetery on this day remember, The grave is not final. Our hope rest with the risen Lord.

04/03/2026

03/31/2026

Knotts Island Community Cemetery
March 23, 2026

You may recall in last year's letter how I mentioned the many cemeteries here on Knotts Island that are not maintained and many that are hidden from view, some within only a few feet of the roadway.

Last month, while it was still cold enough to ward off ticks and with little to no threat of snakes, I ventured out to one of these forgotten cemeteries to do some genealogy work. Imagine my dismay at discovering that this cemetery, with no less than 10 graves, no longer exists! Well, let me put that another way: none of the gravestones are there. All have apparently been removed, and by whom we may never know.

I asked myself, “Why does this happen” ? I thought about this for some time when I remembered something from many years ago.
I was once a Professional Fire Fighter and while I was in the academy, one required course of study was Radiological Monitoring.

The takeaway from that course was this: Time, Distance, and Shielding are the cardinal principles of protection used to minimize exposure to radiation.
Time - how long were you exposed, or how much time has passed since the event?
Distance - how far are you from the event?
Shielding - what barrier lies between you and the event?
The same holds true for a cemetery and burials.
How long has it been since this loved one died?
How far away are the descendants of this family member?
What events have taken place (after all, life goes on) that have created a barrier between the family/descendants and the cemetery?

That is how it happened. People stopped caring because of the amount of time that has passed, and those buried there are all but forgotten. The distance is too great if there are any surviving family members, and they may not even be aware of the location of the cemetery. There has become a barrier shielding them from the location, perhaps new memories, perhaps even a physical barrier in which the property is inaccessible.

Thankfully, your Knotts Island Community Cemetery has not fallen victim to Time, Distance & Shielding. While there are some families buried here with NO direct living descendants, your giving is also for their behalf.

Yearly, checks and Venmo arrive from Maine to Florida, Virginia to California, all across the Midwest, and, of course, our local area.

For that, we are forever grateful, knowing you have not forgotten your family, your loved ones, and your heritage from this small corner of the world.

Respectfully
Jimmy & Barbara Cason
Checks made should be made payable to
Knotts Island Community Cemetery
129 Wards Rd
Knotts Island NC 27950
We also use Venmo sent to

03/29/2026

Not all veterans have military insignia on their graves. If you know any in the cemetery without some type of recognition please let us know.

03/11/2026

Thank you VFW Back Bay Post 1211 for the new flag.
We should never take our freedom for granted, or the sacrifices made by those who provided it for us. 

02/16/2026

Thank you to the good Samaritans, who removed the tree blown down in the cemetery and into the street during the recent snowstorm.

01/19/2026

I thought this was worth reposting.