About Us
About Us
"Locally trusted and dedicated cemetery."
History of Carolina Memorial Park
Carolina Memorial Park was founded on July 23, 1942, by Chester Smith and has been serving the Kannapolis-Concord area since October 1942. In 1947, William Whitley purchased the park. The Whitley family owned the cemetery until it was transferred to Park Lawn Corporation in 2024.
Every cemetery reflects history, and Carolina Memorial Park is no exception. Along with its founder, the park is the final resting place of Luther Barnhart, a local dignitary who served as a member of the North Carolina Senate and as North Carolina Lieutenant Governor in the mid-1950s.
Carolina Memorial Park holds several cemetery firsts in the region. It was the first cemetery in Cabarrus County to have a perpetual care mausoleum. In 1971, it became the first in the region to offer below-ground crypts, and in 1974, it built a cremation retort, providing the first cremation services in the greater Concord-Charlotte area.
Today, Carolina Memorial Park serves the community with 28 memorial gardens, 3 mausoleums, and 7 columbaria to address the growing trend of cremation.
