Old Asbury Cemetery

Jul 1

Site Brief:

Founded: 1811

Location: Odessa, DE

Additional name(s): N/A

Affiliate group(s): N/A

History:

Nearly abandoned, this cemetery is on the site of the Asbury (Methodist) Chapel, which was discontinued in the 1850s and no longer stands. In early years the congregation was both white and Black. Heading south on Route 13, the sign is on the right on a slight rise above the highway a short distance north of the Boyds Corner intersection. There are no known records of the Asbury Chapel congregation. About 1/4 of the cemetery is cleared. It extends downhill toward a small creek and has no obvious entrance road. The upper section is the original cemetery.

Around 1928, people associated with Zoar Methodist Church in Odessa formed a board of trustees, bought an additional acre extending down the hill and created Asbury Cemetery Corporation several years later. This became a Black cemetery for the community centered around Zoar and is identified on State Highway maps as "Colored Cemetery." The ownership of the parcel is not clear since the Asbury Cemetery Corporation has disappeared from state corporate records and IRS nonprofit listings.

The cemetery has been virtually unused since 2000. The Friends of Zoar, a nonprofit restoring the ex-church as a culture and history center, has an active interest in the cemetery's future. Zoar ME was donated to the nonprofit Friends of Zoar, Inc., in 2022 when the Conference declared it surplus. Renovation work as a history-cultural-community center has begun.