SALISBURY — At its second annual barbecue fundraiser, the Fame Preservation Group surpassed the previous year’s goal of $2,500, giving the group the ability to get the historical marker they were hoping for.

The group’s goal was to finance the purchase of a historical marker to be installed at Old Lutheran Cemetery in Salisbury to recognize the unmarked mass grave site of Confederate veterans in the lower portion of the hallowed grounds, according to President Greg Lambeth.

More than 100 people attended the Saturday event at Stars & Bars Tavern on Klumac Road where live music from Ashes to Stone entertained guests partaking of plates of barbecue and all the fixings.

“I’m almost lost for words because of how honored, blessed and thankful I and our administrative members feel for the great success” of the day, said Lambeth after the event, which had just under 10 vendors and offered a live auction at the day’s end.

The group received its 501(c)(3) designation last April and has worked to grow membership.

“I think people believe we are a racist organization, and it’s just not true,” said group historian Charles Dean. “Our goal is to just keep the factual details of history alive and to honor people that gave their lives in a war.”

Lambeth agreed.

“At the time of the Civil War, we didn’t have the information we have today, and it’s hard to judge something from so many years ago using what we are aware of today,” he said.

The organization also participates in civic projects, such as adopt a street to keep local streets clean, and cleaning and maintaining headstones in cemeteries where Confederate soldiers are buried, and they have worked to build relationships with other organizations also focused on the preservation of history such as The Virginia Flaggers and Monuments Across Dixie.

“Our little FPG has grown to be a respectable historical society in our community and on a national level for the
devoted purpose of honoring the Confederate veterans and their history in Rowan County, captured and contextualized through the representation of the Fame Confederate Monument,” Lambeth wrote in an email after the event.

He explained the meaning behind the name of the group as well: “F.A.M.E., meaning Faith, Ancestry, Monuments and Education for the FPG to run on. Through faith, we have hope and courage moving forward; through ancestry, we identify and recognize the individual Confederate veterans of Rowan County; through our monument, we rally behind the art and compassion illustrated through her grace; and through education, our organization exists to educate the public of the sacrifices made by Rowan’s Confederate Dead through the Fame Confederate Monument with the faith of our intentions by the grace of God.

A historical fiction author and wife of Dean, Rebekah Colburn, was also on hand offering copies of her books, and noted that like others, she believes the way people learn from history is to know and understand it.

“If we don’t learn it, talk about it, remember it, then it benefits us nothing,” she said.