GREENLAWN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1821/1822

ADDITONAL NAMES: Eleven Stadium, Burying Ground, Old Burying Ground, Union Cemetery, City Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program

HISTORY:

Abandoned, neglected, and built upon for generations, the approximately 4-acre tract is known as the “Old Burying Ground”. This was a segregated cemetery designated for African Americans and poor Euro- Americans. In total, it encompassed 25 acres, with the White River forming the boundary next to the Old Burying Ground, where the African American citizens were buried. The cemetery was closed to new burials in the 1870s.

In 1894, the city passed an ordinance was declaring the Greenlawn Cemetery and tracts adjacent to it a public nuisance. The ordinance described the area as falling into a state of decay and neglect. This led to the removal of fencing, vegetation, of uninterred corpses, and other contents of the vaults. The vaults were destroyed. Soon the Greenlawn Cemetery was abandoned and those bodies which were not washed away or damaged by industrialization are still there.

Today the city is investing in a new “Sports Complex", and part of that development will include building a new bridge to span the White River, called the Henry Street Bridge. The footings for this bridge will be on top of the Old Burying Ground, where the Black settlers were interred. We are advocating for this to be rectified by an intentional mitigation before construction begins.

BCN Contact Information:

Indiana Remembrance Coalitiion

haselnuss132@gmail.com

Www.indianalandmarks.org

FREEDOMLAND CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1854

ADDITONAL NAMES: Colored People's Burial Ground

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

This site sits in Floyds Knobs, IN which is on the Indiana side of the Louisville metro area. The location is not easy to get to. It's about half a mile hike, deep in the woods on a steep hill and flows into a valley. In the mid 1800's this area would have been considered "the country", of New Albany, IN and Louisville, KY. Many escaping slavery ended up right over the KY border in Southern, Indiana. This would have been one of the segregated cemeteries, in one of the first union cities to border a confederate state in Indiana.

This cemetery contains appx 300 souls, however, some believe there could be closer to 1,000. It's also speculated to possibly be the largest segregated cemetery in the state of Indiana. The site dates back to 1854 from a deed. However, I personally suspect the site to be much older due to the number of stone markers with no information engraved. There are only appx 6-10 headstones that are legible. Most of the sites are marked with a colorful piece of stone. And many are no longer marked at all.

BCN Contact Information:

Piper Robbins

piperrobbins@gmail.com