Helping Hand Cemetery
Site Brief:
Founded: 1897
Location: Courtland, VA
Additional name(s): None
Affiliate group(s): None
History:
Helping Hand Cemetery was deeded to five African-American Trustees in 1897 "for the sole purpose of establishing a cemetery for colored people" in Courtland, Virginia. Before this; however, according to records of some descendants, there were people interred at this graveyard site during and post slavery. Originally called The Courtland Colored Cemetery, the name was changed in 1912 to Helping Hand along with the establishment of a benevolent organization acting as a health and welfare club accepting 20 cents a month from community members, and paying out sick, unemployment, and death benefits. We are currently in possession of ledger books from 1918 - 1995 that lists the names of the community members who joined this club.
Descendants of these original trustees, came together in 2016 to form a new Helping Hand Trustee Board determined to return the cemetery to its original historical significance and beauty. The Town of Courtland itself has received historical significance based on the history and progress of African-Americans in this segregated town, the town where Nat Turner was tried and killed three blocks from our cemetery. Eligibility for a series of grants has enabled us to restore and maintain the cemetery consisting of approximately 650 interred.
We maintain the name of Helping Hand Cemetery Club out of respect to our ancestors and the original founders.
Resource links:
BCN Contact Information:
Dolores Peterson, Trustee/Historian Helping Hand Cemetery Club
dvlp13@yahoo.com