EASTERN LIGHT CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1864

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds

HISTORY:

Eastern Light Cemetery in Altoona was created in 1864 and the land which fronts 10th Street and Oak Ridge Cemetery was purchased by John Ferguson, George Hooper, and John Alexander for African American citizens of Altoona. In addition, to these men, George M. Jackson, Henry Johnson, George Payne, and Allan (or Allen) Hurley were its first stockholders. It houses the remains of 6 USCT soldiers, the remains of the first Black high school graduate of Altoona High and the remains of the youngest son and his wife of Blair County's best known Underground Railroad conductor.

BCN Contact Information:

Blair County Branch NAACP #2252

admin@blairconaacp.org

UNION CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1900

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S):

• Ujima Union Cemetery Project

HISTORY:

Union Cemetery, named in honor of the two dozen veterans of the Civil War who are buried here, was established in 1900 by Carlisle resident Robert Thompson, Sr. (1828-1900). Thompson was one of the most prominent African-Americans in central Pennsylvania during his day. From his birth, an enslaved person, in Front Royal, VA to his death in his home on Carlisle's South Street, Thompson lived the unique life of an entrepreneur who owned a large amount of property and businesses in the Carlisle and Harrisburg areas. The land for the cemetery was purchased in the 1890s after Lincoln Cemetery, located at the corner of North Pitt Street and West Penn Street, became full. Upon Mr. Thompson's death, several generations of the Thompson family managed the site before it was taken over by the Borough of Carlisle, which still maintains the cemetery. The earliest gravestone is dated 1885. Union Cemetery follows one of the earliest burial customs by burying everyone facing east.

BCN Contact Information:

Ujima Union Cemetery Project

sigvoice@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/friendsofUnionCemetery

MOTHER ARCHIE’S CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1891

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Mother Archie’s cemetery is located in Chadds Ford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The cemetery sits just next to the remains of what was formerly the Bullock Octagonal School (1838). In 1891, Lydia A. Archie, a Black woman and oldest ordained female Preacher in the African Union M.P. Church, purchased the property. Lydia Archie, or Mother Archie as she was often referred as, used the building as a church and the adjacent ground as a cemetery. Her congregation met regularly in the old schoolhouse until her death in 1932.

The cemetery is the final resting place of seventy-nine members of the church, including Mother Archie herself. While less than half of the gravestones remain, it is the hope of Chadds Ford Township, who obtained the property in 1954, that the remaining gravestones can be cleaned and preserved. Mother Archie, who also built and lived in a home on the same property as her church and cemetery, was a pillar of Chadds Ford’s black community from 1891-1932. After her death, the church and cemetery became inactive as Mother Archie’s children and congregation moved on and passed away.

However, both the cemetery and remains of the church continue to captivate and inspire. Andrew Wyeth was a frequent visitor of Mother Archie’s in the 1950s and painted several images of the ruins. Although Mother Archie and her congregation have left, it is the hope of the Township to preserve what Mother Archie created and celebrate the lives of those buried there.

BCN Contact Information:

Chadds Ford Township

info@chaddsfordpa.gov

EDEN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1902

ADDITONAL NAMES: Historic Eden Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds

HISTORY:

The creation of the Eden Cemetery Company was a collaborative effort to provide a sanctuary in the Philadelphia area where African Americans could be buried with dignity and respect. Founded at the height of Jim Crow, six years after Plessy v. Ferguson, Eden Cemetery was Philadelphia's African American answer to a burial crisis created in the community, due to segregation, urban expansion, public works projects, vandelism, condemnation, and the closure of earlier Black burial grounds and cemeteries. Having a dignified place for burial was a long-standing challenge to African Americans due to racism, but by the end of the 19th century the situation in Philadelphia grew even more dire with the closures of Lebanon and Olive cemeteries and the enactment of municipal ordinances that in effect prohibited the creation of new African American cemeteries within City limits.

Opened in 1902, Eden represented African American agency to address these problems by establishing a new cemetery in suburban Delaware County on fifty-three acres that were part of Bartram Farm, and as a "collection cemetery" for dislocated earlier black burial grounds and cemeteries. This move was not fraught without challenges. On August 12, 1902, Collingdale's white residents blocked the entrance to the cemetery, protesting "a colored burial ground" in their community. Authorities of the borough delayed the funeral for hours. The Delaware County community protested against its opening with a court injunction. The headline in the August 13th, Chester County Times read: "Collingdale Has More Race Troubles, Town Council Has No Use for a Colored Funeral, No African Need Apply." When a compromise was finally reached, Eden was able to have its first burial on August 14, 1902.

The cemetery quickly became a beacon of community pride and representation of African American heritage through the designation of its cemetery sections. An example of this is the John Brown section, which became the chosen resting place for many United States Colored Troops and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a Citzen of Eden, who viewed John Brown as an important friend and hero.

Since its beginning, Eden has been a steward of the history and culture of a people, of communities made invisible,. A legavy cemetery, Eden is comprised of dislocated burial grounds, churchyards and cemeteries with over 90,000 persons entrusted to its care. The lives of the Citizens of Eden span from 1721 to the present. Monuments throughout the cemetery eternally memorialize the lives of many thousands, who are an important part of history, and the communities that they represent.

Historic Eden offers a unique cultural, educational, and historical resource in the Greater Philadelphia, Delaware Valley, and the Southeastern Pennsylvania area. The past, present, and future converge at Eden, reflecting a broad spectrum of American history, heritage, culture and memory. Eden offers tours and events designed to educate and connect the past with the present and the future.

Today, Eden is an exceptional monument to the national African American civil rights story. Historic Eden Cemetery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is a part of the National Park Service Underground Railroad to Network to Freedom, a member of the Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds and a member of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Eden looks to the future with a continued focus on stewardship and service, with a strong consideration of how the cemetery will adapt to the ever-changing needs of the community, so that Eden can continue to preserve memory and to provide stewardship and service well into the next century.

BCN Contact Information:

Eden Cemetery

info@edencemetery.org

www.edencemetery.org

SPRING VALLEY AME CHURCH AND CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1880

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Spring Valley AME is a small church once affiliated with Mother Bethel AME. Located in Concord Ville (Glen Mills) Delaware County PA. The exterior has been renovated & a grave marker placed for those buried there. The AME Church is listed on the Concord Township Historic Resources Inventory as Resource #132, and as such is covered under the Concord Township Historic Preservation Ordinance. The church is a Class 2, meaning it is historically significant to the local history, being the only black church in the township.

Well-known African American Concord Ville soldier and patriot, James T. Byrd, born March 10, 1905 and passed away on May 8, 1985, was a member of Spring Valley AME Church. He is buried in what was called the “colored people’s” cemetery. James Byrd was the father of Betty Byrd Smith (a civil rights activist) and Thomas Byrd.

BCN Contact Information:

Concord Township Historical Society

https://concordhist.org/about-the-society/

610-459-8556

LEBANON CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1872

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds

HISTORY:

Founded in 1872, Historic Lebanon Cemetery in York, PA was established when the African American citizens in the area came together to purchase almost 2 acres of land to bury their families with dignity and respect. Segregated burial practices existed at the time (and continued through the 1960s), leaving the only other option for burial the “Potter’s Field”, which was overcrowded and preyed upon by grave robbers. The original 2 acres eventually grew to 5 acres over years. The cemetery reflects the diverse historical development of York; former enslaved have been laid to rest among freedmen and women and the Civil War soldiers who fought for their freedom, and men and women transcend the social barriers of life to coexist in death.

Lebanon Cemetery may be York County’s largest and oldest Black-owned cemetery.

BCN Contact Information:

Samantha L. Dorm

sdorm@friendsoflebanoncemetery.com

https://pahallowedgrounds.org/

MOUNT HOLLY COLORED CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Oldest identified burial 1888

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

The Mount Holly Colored Cemetery is on Cedar Street near Mountain Street in Mount Holly Springs, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. During and after the Civil War, people coming north from southern states stopped in Mount Holly Springs and stayed to take the jobs in the town’s paper mills, establishing the Mountain Street community. The cemetery was the burial ground for all the black residents of Mount Holly Springs since they were not permitted to be interred in the town’s municipal cemetery.

Over time the community changed. By 1970 Mount Tabor AME, a small frame church (ca 1870) across the road, was abandoned and crumbling and the cemetery neglected and overgrown. The Mount Tabor Preservation Project was formed in 2019 to repair and preserve the site. GPR scans indicate the grounds included approximately 65 burials, although only 18 headstones exist. There are seven USCT Civil War veterans who were formerly enslaved.

BCN Contact Information:

Mount Tabor Preservation Project

mttaborpreservation@gmail.com

https://www.mttaborpreservation.com/

MIDLAND CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1870's

ADDITONAL NAMES: Friends of Midland

AFFILIATION(S):

• Pa Hallowed Grounds

HISTORY:

The history of Midland Cemetery is a simple one. The burial site was started circa 1795 for the purpose of burying those who were working on or near the old farm which later became known as the Kelker Farm in the 1800’s. Midland did not actually get its legal name until around 1877. Midland Cemetery holds the remains of those who once were in servitude bondage either from another state or Pennsylvania and became free. Reading of the various headstones and in research we have noted veterans interred in these hallowed grounds are the United States Colored Troops, which were the Black men who volunteered to serve during the Civil War, the Buffalo Soldiers, who fought in and open up the West (Champaign). Headstones show soldiers of World War I and II, followed by the Korean War.

Aside from the various military men and possibly a few women (still researching), there are also the many leaders of the community. Ministers of churches which are still functioning in the Steelton, Harrisburg and Swatara Township area such as Monumental AME, Mt Zion Baptist, Goodwin Memorial, Beulah Baptist and the First Baptist Church to name a few. They are buried alongside of their deacons and deaconess and many of their church members.

Throughout the cemetery you will find family plots with and without headstones or markers. Over the years of restoration and reclaiming the cemetery we have found numerous amounts of babies, young children and teenagers. Some of the youth attended the “School for Colored Children” known as the Hygienic School, which was part of the Steelton School system.

Midland has wrapped its arms around the Black doctors, mothers and fathers, brothers, sisters and even the known abolitionist. Midland also has a Negro league baseball player, a writer and publisher of a local newspaper who was also Steelton’s first Black Councilman in the late 1800’s. It holds the remains of persons from our area that seemed to be ahead of the times.

BCN Contact Information:

Friends of Midland

mscmtyldy@aol.com

https://pahallowedgrounds.org/

LINCOLN CEMETERY — HARRISBURG

FOUNDED: 1877

ADDITONAL NAMES: Wesleyan AME Church Cemetery, Harris Free Cemetery, African Burial Grounds

AFFILIATION(S):

• Friends of Lebanon Cemetery

HISTORY:

Lincoln Cemetery is Harrisburg’s oldest surviving Black Cemetery. The ground was consecrated, outside of the city limits, in November of 1877 on a plot of land that lies on the border of what is now the Town of Penbrook and Susquehanna Township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.

Although the first burial at Lincoln Cemetery did not occur until 1877, most of the Black People who died in Harrisburg, since the 1700s are also buried here. They had to be disinterred from the earlier Black Cemeteries, located within city limits, when it became illegal to bury Black People within them.

Lincoln Cemetery is the final resting place of over 90 Black Civil War Veterans (and counting), and hundreds of veterans of later wars. Almost all of Harrisburg's early black leaders are buried in Lincoln Cemetery. Including former slaves, leaders in the Underground Railroad, politicians, doctors, lawyers, the first Black Superintendent of schools, journalists, musicians, college professors, countless reverends, entrepreneurs, firefighters, schoolteachers, policemen, civil rights activists, and founding members of our Nation’s most prominent Black Fraternal Orders.

Lincoln Cemetery is clearly a significant cultural heritage resource for the region. But Harrisburg's unique geographical position, also made it a transportation hub, a crossroads and waypoint for Americans migrating North, South, and West during the 1800s. So, Lincoln Cemetery is also Nationally significant---A source of unexplored and untapped stories and data about the Black Family, social networks and community in the 18th-20th centuries, it is an untapped well in an individual's quest to break the 1870 brick wall and has the ability to galvanize all people to a deeper understanding of the importance and significant role Black People had in the building of our nation.

BCN Contact Information:

SOAL: Saving Our Ancestors' Legacy

soal@lincolncemetery.org

https://friendsoflebanoncemetery.com