GRANITE QUARRY — The Fame Preservation Group Inc. is now officially recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization as a charity under Internal Revenue Code section 170 under the the Internal Revenue Service.

The group was incorporated Nov. 29, 2021, as a state-level nonprofit organization. Donors can deduct contributions they make to the organization and it is allowed to receive tax deductible bequests or gifts.

The historical society leadings tours, hosts festivals and cleans headstones to better represent, honor and educate the public of Confederate history and the symbolic nature of the Fame Confederate Monument, Gloria Victis. It also participated in Salisbury’s Adopt a Street program for North Lee Street as part of its goals of furthering the preservationist movement.

The current main financial fundraising goal is to surpass $3,000 to put Old Lutheran Cemetery on the Civil War Trails, Inc., program, along with a historic marker and road sign for context about the estimated 190 Confederate veterans buried there. Many of those veterans were treated at the former Rowan Way-side Hospital that was across the railway along North Long Street, where trains would transport wounded soldiers.

The 176 Confederate headstones in front of the Fame Confederate Monument were installed in 1996 to serve as memorials to the Confederate veterans who didn’t survive treatment and are buried not with their markers but in unmarked burials throughout the cemetery.

“We feel that there’s more than enough context to work with for this to be accomplished and would be a great achievement as a young historical society like the FPG to take part in,” the group said in a news release. “Nevertheless, thank you to all of our devoted members, advocates and donors, God bless.”

Gregory Lambeth II is president of the group, which lists PO Box 794, Granite Quarry, NC 28146 for correspondence or you can email famepreservationgroup@gmail.com