Few of the students, residents, and visitors who find themselves sitting on one of the many
fieldstone walls running throughout campus probably give much thought to how those many walls came to be.
Most of these stone walls are the craft of Thomas Booth (1887-1955), a stone mason, who built them along
with his brother Lewis. The Booths were some of the many African-American citizens of Chapel Hill who helped
construct the university and town, both before the Civil War and in the years that followed the end of slavery.
The Booth brothers' father, Thomas Sr., who worked as a slave to build many early campus buildings, is buried
beneath an unmarked grave in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery. Few historical markers exist to testify to the
work of individuals like the Booths, but their memory lives in the stone walls, and in the stories that are
kept alive by local residents. Enjoy a few moments admiring the skillful care with which these walls were
built [36].
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