This story contains reporting from the Daily Advance.
The Confederate monument in downtown Edenton was removed late Saturday evening, Aug. 30, after standing for decades at the foot of South Broad Street, according to reporting by the Daily Advance.
The two-hour operation began at 11:01 p.m. and concluded by 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 31. Observers said the memorial was transported to the old Chowan County Jail and placed inside a walled enclosure. Plans call for the monument to eventually be relocated to Veterans Memorial Park on Court Street, but no site preparation has begun there.
The move followed an Aug. 18 ruling by Superior Court Judge Wayland J. Sermons, who vacated an injunction that had allowed the Sons of Confederate Veterans to keep the monument in place since 1961. The monument, first installed outside Edenton’s 1767 Courthouse in 1909, was moved to South Broad Street more than 50 years later.
Town crews began dismantling the monument’s brick plaza and removing flagpoles the day after the ruling. A statement posted on Edenton’s website Aug. 19 said officials were “investigating the steps required to relocate the monument,” and the landscape plan would serve as “an interim plan under the Colonial Park improvement plan, which accommodates Harbortown and was approved by the Town Council on August 13, 2024.”
The Harbortown waterfront project, which includes a $25 million port facilities upgrade, has been one of the main drivers behind the decision to relocate the monument.
The Daily Advance reported the late-night removal may have been prompted by outside monument supporters who marched at the site on Aug. 9. Protests over the monument have taken place nearly every Saturday for almost three years.
The Edenton Bell Battery Chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is considering an appeal of the ruling, but a spokesperson said their protests have been aimed at countering demonstrations by the Move the Monument Coalition.
In a statement, the coalition said: “We are relieved that this blight on the town’s landscape has been removed. We are still processing and we’ll no doubt have more to say in the coming days and weeks.”
The group also reiterated its opposition to placing the monument on public property. “Going forward, we will adjust our strategy as needed, but most in our group continue to insist that a county courthouse, in 2025, is not a proper place for a Confederate monument. In fact, it should not sit on public property anywhere nor be maintained at public expense,” said Rod Phillips, a spokesperson for the coalition.
Mayor W. Hackney High defended the Town Council’s handling of the relocation, saying the decision was based on principle and safety. “True leadership means stepping forward, not backing away, in the face of difficult issues,” High said in a letter. He added that the monument is not being erased but preserved through relocation, and that conducting the removal at night avoided potential conflict and disruption downtown.
Five local plaintiffs have filed a separate lawsuit objecting to relocating the monument to the courthouse site. That case has yet to receive its first hearing.
