Not all of Manteo High School’s history is widespread and well known. One thing that may be obscure to most is the graveyard behind the school. Before the school was built, this area was a farm. An agreement was reached with the original owners when the school was built here exchange for permission to build the school on these grounds, the school would agree to maintain the graveyard on campus. This requirement is checked occasionally to make sure that the terms of the deal are upheld. The graveyard was here long before the school was built in 1983. It belongs to the Griffin family, members of whom make up a majority of the graves.Some of the graves are as old as the early 1800’s, and the newest grave was added in 2007. One of gravestones lists a date of birth in 1747, years before the United States declared independence, so the person was an adult during the time of the Revolutionary War. While it may seem strange to have a cemetery on the school grounds, it is a part of the history of Manteo.