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.
Those who have taken the time to look closer find an epitaph that stands out for its plainspoken tone: “Meant well, tried a little, failed much.”
The line is honest, humble and surprisingly witty in a place built on solemnity. The words weren’t Campbell’s.
The phrase comes from writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who suggested it in his 1892 essay A Christmas Sermon, included in his collection Across the Plains. Stevenson suggested the line as a fitting epitaph for any person, a reflection on the imperfect but well-intentioned nature of being human. Stevenson argued that life is not diminished by shortcomings. Good intentions, even small ones, matter in the end.
Campbell’s monument speaks to a life lived earnestly and imperfectly. The kind of legacy most of us leave in the end.
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Tombstone Tales: Riverside grave with bold confession
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Riverside Cemetery is known for its monuments, the Southern writers who draw visitors from around the country…
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Tombstone Tales: Caleb Miller, “Old as the Hills and Twice as Wise
A simple stone marking a remarkable Blue Ridge life.
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Tombstone Tales: JFK Motorcade Driver Buried in Waynesville
On the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the story of William Robert Greer stretches from Dealey Plaza to Western North Carolina.
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Tombstone Tales: Ben Wolfe, the brother behind Look Homeward, Angel
Ben Wolfe’s life was short, but his death left a mark that shaped his brother’s masterpiece and became one of Asheville’s most poignant literary stories.
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Tombstone Tales: The photographer who captured the soul of the Smokies
How George Masa’s lens, maps, and mountain hikes helped create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and shape the Appalachian Trail.
