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Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina
Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina
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Source:  Major Benjamin May Marker, Farmville. Photo courtesy of Rusty Long

  • Monument Name

    Major Benjamin May Marker, Farmville

  • Type

    Plaque

    Marker

  • Subjects

    Colonial History

    Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

  • City

    Farmville

  • County

    Pitt

  • Description

    A massive block of granite is dedicated to the memory of Major Benjamin May, Revolutionary war hero. It is six feet tall at its highest and four feet wide. The granite is rough-hewn with straight sides and sloped top. The bronze plaque is thirty inches wide and twenty-four inches wide.

    Images: Bronze plaque

  • Inscription

    NEAR THIS SPOT IS BURIED / MAJOR BENJAMIN MAY / PATRIOT AND REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO / 1737 – 1808 / PROMOTED FOR BRAVERY ON FIELD OF BATTLE. / MEMBER OF SAFETY COMMITTEE. / MEMBER OF HALIFAX CONVENTION 1776. / MEMBER OF HOUSE OF COMMONS.

    THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED BY THE NORTH CAROLINA / HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND HIS DESCENDENTS UNDER THE / AUSPICES OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

  • Custodian

    Farmville United Methodist Church

  • Dedication Date

    November 19, 1925

  • Decade

    1920s

  • Geographic Coordinates

    35.604680 , -77.599000 View in Geobrowsemap pin

  • Supporting Sources

      Eleventh Annual Report of the North Carolina Historical Commission, (Raleigh, NC: Edwards and Broughton, 1927), (accessed December 3, 2015), 31 Link

      Touring North Carolina Revolutionary War Sites, (John F. Blair, Publisher, 1998), (accessed December 3, 2015) Link

      Carraway and Oglesby. Ed. Farmville’s 100th Anniversary, (Farmville, NC: MorMac, 1972), (accessed December 3, 2015), 3,102 Link

      Foltz, Meredith S. “May, Benjamin,” NCPedia.org, (accessed December 3, 2015) Link

  • Public Site

    Yes

  • Materials & Techniques

    Granite, bronze

  • Sponsors

    North Carolina Historical Commission, Daughters of the American Revolution and May descendants.

  • Subject Notes

    [Additional information from NCpedia editors at the State Library of North Carolina: This person enslaved and owned other people. Many Black and African people, their descendants, and some others were enslaved in the United States until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. It was common for wealthy landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians, institutions, and others to enslave people and use enslaved labor during this period. To read more about the enslavement and transportation of African people to North Carolina, visit https://aahc.nc.gov/programs/africa-carolina-0. To read more about slavery and its history in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncpedia.org/slavery. - Government and Heritage Library, 2023.]

  • Location

    The maker is located at the corner of West Church and West Wilson Streets in Farmville, NC.

  • Landscape

    The granite slab sits at a street corner with farmland across West Church Street and scattered housing across West Wilson Street. Farmville United Methodist Church is across the same lot, 100 yards away.

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