HAROLD AVENUE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1808

ADDITONAL NAMES: Jackson Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The Harold Avenue Cemetery, circa 1808, is also known as the Black Jackson Cemetery. Located west of Old Mill Road between Lawrence Place and Harold Avenue in Wantagh is a wooded area that was used as a cemetery. The Harold Avenue burial lot was used by the descendants of the Jackson family slaves prior to 1862, the date of the first recorded burial in the Old Burial Ground on Oakfield Avenue in Wantagh.

Thomas Jackson, a white Revolutionary War veteran, deeded the property to Jeffrey Jackson, who was black, in 1808. It is probable that Jeffrey Jackson was a freed slave.

Slavery in this area had lost favor soon after the Revolutionary War and was not generally practiced. Many of the area's white families were Quakers and were opposed to slavery. The former slave owners often gave land to their freed slaves for their own farms. In many cases, the grateful freed slaves took the surnames of their former masters.

BCN Contact Information:

The Wantagh Preservation Society

wantaghmuseum@gmail.com

516-826-8767

https://nyheritage.org/organizations/wantagh-preservation-society