One Confederate monument in Chapel Hill has drawn the significant portion of notoriety in recent months – Silent Sam. The statue was toppled last August and the base of the monument was removed earlier this week.

But the Chapel Hill Town Council is now revisiting a memorial that has also seen its share of protest, a marker declaring Franklin Street – running through the heart of Chapel Hill – as part of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway, honoring the president of the Confederacy.

The Town Council and Orange County Commissioners have looked at the marker several times in recent months, at the request of citizens who want the indicator removed. But there has been no clear answer as to who has the power to potentially remove the memorial.

Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger brought a petition to the Town Council at its meeting on Wednesday night and addressed the uncertainty surrounding the issue.

“It sits in the NCDOT right-of-way, but they do not own the land that it sits on,” the mayor said.

Now, the Town Council has asked the town attorney to write to North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat who grew up in Chapel Hill, “for an opinion on who has authority over the property and whether the marker can be moved.”

Wednesday night’s petition was unanimously approved by the Town Council.

There is no clear timeline for potential action on the monument.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted last fall to rescind a 1959 resolution by the commissioners that unofficially commemorated a portion of the thoroughfare as Jefferson Davis Highway.

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