Editor’s Note: Western North Carolina is rich with untold stories—many resting quietly in local cemeteries. In this Tombstone Tales series, we explore the lives of people from our region’s past whose legacies, whether widely known or nearly forgotten, helped shape the place we call home.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Riverside Cemetery is known for its monuments, the Southern writers who draw visitors from around the country and even a few ghost stories. But one of its most memorable inscriptions doesn’t belong to a famous name or legend. It stands quietly on a hillside, easy to overlook.
The weathered marker belongs to Charles H. Campbell, a native of England who lived his final years in Asheville and died in 1907. At first glance, nothing sets his monument apart from others across the cemetery. The carving is faint, the stone unassuming…