Mount Zion Cemetery
Site Brief:
Founded: 1808
Location: Washington, D.C.
Additional name(s): Old Methodist Burying Ground, Mt Zion Cemetery
Affiliate group(s): Mount Zion United Methodist Church
History:
Mount Zion Cemetery, historically known as the Old Methodist Burying Ground, was established in 1808 by Montgomery Street Methodist Episcopal Church, a racially mixed Methodist congregation in Georgetown. In 1816, many of the Black members of that church left to form Mount Zion United Methodist Church, Washington, DC’s oldest Black congregations. Over time, the cemetery became a sacred burial ground for generations of Black Georgetown residents, including free and enslaved people, church leaders, laborers, artisans, educators, Civil War veterans, families, and community builders.
The cemetery is significant to Black history because it reflects both the interracial origins of early Methodism in Georgetown and the emergence of independent Black religious, family, and community networks in the nineteenth century. Mount Zion Cemetery preserves the memory of Black Georgetown residents who built churches, schools, businesses, mutual aid networks, and freedom-seeking communities across generations. It is also associated with Underground Railroad history through Mount Zion’s burial vault and the broader networks connected to the church. Mount Zion Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and, together with the adjacent Female Union Band Society Cemetery, was designated a UNESCO Slave Route Project Site of Memory in 2018. The site is currently stewarded by the Black Georgetown Foundation, which works to preserve the cemetery, document the people buried there, support descendant and community research, and educate the public about Black Georgetown history. Today, the cemetery remains an important site of remembrance, research, preservation, and public education.
BCN Contact Information:
Lisa Fager