SITE DIRECTORY
To learn more about any of the BCN sites listed below, click “Read more” to view individual site briefs. To search for a specific BCN site, use the search bar below:
Quarter Place Cemetery
QUARTER PLACE CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1794
ADDITONAL NAMES: Patrick Henry's Red Hill
AFFILIATION(S): None
HISTORY:
The Quarter Place Cemetery is nestled at the end of a half-mile trail at Patrick Henry’s Red Hill. Spanning generations since 1794, there have been 147 graves identified in the one-acre space. To the local community, this is a sacred burial ground. Many of those buried there also had family members buried in the local African American church cemeteries.
As a plantation cemetery, this space contains yucca plants, periwinkle, as well as field stones to mark the graves. It has been so secluded, many of the grave-shaft depressions are still visible. In an archaeological survey completed in 2019, there was found a spot near the middle of the cemetery in which no graves lie, indicating that the burials were planned as a sacred place for the black community to gather. Through genealogical research efforts, it is evident that many descendants of those interred at the cemetery still reside nearby. This site is critical to showing African American resilience, familial ties, and culture in Southside Virginia—a place where very few non-church, black cemeteries remain.
BCN Contact Information:
Hope Marstin
info@redhill.org
African American Burial Ground at Woodland Cemetery
AFRICAN AMERICAN BURIAL GROUND AT WOODLAND CEMETERY
FOUNDED: TBA [Working to establish]
ADDITONAL NAMES: None
AFFILIATION(S): None
HISTORY:
Between July 2020 and January 2021, 667 unmarked burials were recovered in Woodland Cemetery on the Clemson University campus using ground penetrating radar. Though the burial site was known to many in the region for two centuries, Clemson University did not undertake significant efforts to memorialize the unknown burials until 2016. These burials likely belong to the enslaved and free Africans and African Americans who labored at the Fort Hill Plantation and other plantations in the region, as well as sharecroppers and domestics who labored for Thomas Green Clemson following the end of the Civil War. The burials also belong to African American convicted laborers leased from the South Carolina Penitentiary who died while building Clemson between 1890-1915 as well as African American wage workers who labored at Clemson during its early years and their family members.
BCN Contact Information:
Dr. Rhondda Thomas
rhonddt@clemson.edu
Historic Oberlin Cemetery
HISTORIC OBERLIN CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1873
LOCATION: Raleigh, NC
HISTORY:
In 1873, Nicholas Pettiford sold the one-acre tract of the Pettiford homestead he inherited from his father, Jesse, for $45 to the trustees of Oberlin Cemetery. The deed indicated that the land be sold in lots for burials. Daniel Green was a cemetery sexton, likely for the Oberlin Cemetery. By 1880, Oberlin Village was flourishing, with about 160 African American households on large rural lots. Around 1911 the Turner family sold or donated a tract for additional burial plots, called Pineview. John Turner became the cemetery sexton and Hubert Jeffries was paid $2 to dig the graves. The two cemeteries were annexed together when the the National Registry application was submitted.
During the 2016 pedestrian survey of the cemetery, 1087 records were recorded using a high-resolution Ground Penetrating Radar (GPS) unit resulting in a specially enabled database. An estimated 660 interred were identified by monuments and/or sunken graves. Twenty-seven (family) enclosures and six family markers were identified. The monuments were made from carved stone, cement, metal plaques, a wooden head board and field stones. They are decorated with Bible verses, symbols and characters indicating their passions and contributions to their community. The stories of the lives and accomplishments of the interred souls bring to light the contributions made to N. Carolina and US history. The volunteers of the Friends of Oberlin Village have worked tirelessly since 2011 to uncover and preserve this forgotten history to honor the folk buried in Historic Oberlin Cemetery.
RESOURCE LINKS:
BCN Contact Information:
Cheryl Williams
oberlinhistorian@outlook.com
Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground
Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground
FOUNDED: 1816
LOCATION: Richmond, VA
ADDITIONAL NAMES: 2nd African Burial Ground
HISTORY:
The Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground was established in 1816 by the City of Richmond, VA as the replacement for the Burial Ground for Negroes (now referred to as the African Burial Ground) in Shockoe Bottom. The new burying ground on Shockoe Hill, was laid out along the northern end of Fifth Street near the city’s poorhouse. It began as two adjoining one-acre plots, one for free people of color and one for the enslaved. The grounds expanded greatly over time to encompass as many as 31 acres. With an estimated 22,000 plus interments, it was/is likely the largest burial ground for free people of color and the enslaved in the United States. After closing the burying ground in 1879 due to overcrowd conditions, the city repurposed the site, making the burial ground unrecognizable today.
There are likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions of descendants of the people who were buried within these grounds all over the United States (though not yet aware of their connections). The burial ground and its people have suffered many abuses/desecrations over its long history, and it remains under threat to this day. Present threats include the DC2RVA high-speed rail project, and the proposed widening of I-64. Please see the Wikipedia page for the Shockoe Hill African Burial Ground for additional information, or any of the other sources listed below.
RESOURCE LINKS:
BCN Contact Information:
Lenora McQueen
shockoehillafricanbg@gmail.com
Washington Park Cemetery
WASHINGTON PARK CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1920
LOCATION: Berkley, MO
ADDITIONAL NAMES: None
HISTORY:
Washington Park Cemetery is located in the suburb of Berkeley, Missouri, in St. Louis County founded in 1920 specifically for the final resting place of African Americans. The cemetery is one of the largest Black cemeteries and once most beautiful. Washington Park Cemetery was never just a cemetery, it was a vital part of the African American community. The cemetery sponsored annual events such festivals, food distributions and contained fruit orchards. Like many other Black cemeteries in America Washington Park has suffered from neglect, abuse and mismanagement.
Local interstate 70 in the 1950's, invaded the cemetery by plowing through the middle, which separated Washington Park into 2 parts; the loss of acreage due to airport expansion in the 1970's; the intrusion of the local Metro light rail system into the cemetery in 1990, which resulted in the forced (eminent domain) removal of thousands and thousands of our Black ancestor's remains. Some of the staff hired to work on this removal project mishandled, abused, disrespected and stole human remains. The cemetery has been encroached by a cell phone tower and 6 lighted billboards located inside of cemetery in that towered directly above graves. The billboards created a battle in 2017 between the Washington Park Cemetery - Anti-Desecration League (activists), the billboard company and it's advertisers resulting in a lawsuit being filed in April 2019 for the permanent eradication of the billboards. This lawsuit and battle appeared in national and local media. In July 2020, a settlement was reached and the billboards and structures were permanently removed from the cemetery in August of 2020.
The fight remains to preserve and restore Washington Park Cemetery to its glorious and rightful place and hold its significance into the future
RESOURCE LINKS:
BCN Contact Information:
Ancestral Landmarks Preservation Council
Washington Park Cemetery Anti-Desecration League
wpcadlstl@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/Washington-Park-Cemetery-Anti-Desecration-League-1998850373712486/
Ridgewood Cemetery
RIDGEWOOD CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1942
LOCATION: Tampa, FL
AFFILIATION(S):
The African American Cemetery Alliance of Tampa Bay
HISTORY:
Ridgewood Cemetery was established in 1942 and later purchased by the City of Tampa in 1959. The site is located on the grounds of King High School in Tampa, FL. A 2019 GPR assessment of the area revealed 145 unmarked graves on the property, though further evidence suggests there may be as many as 250.
BCN Contact Information:
Shannon Peck-Bartle
speck@usf.edu
Rose Cemetery
ROSE CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1904
LOCATION: Tarpon Springs, FL
AFFILIATION(S):
The African American Cemetery Alliance of Tampa Bay
HISTORY:
The Rose Hill Cemetery serves as the largest intact segregated African American cemetery in Pinellas County, Florida. Established in the early twentieth-century, the cemetery reflects the trials and triumphs of the Tarpon Springs African American community from the Civil War through current day. Home to nineteenth-century black hook spongers, community leaders, military veterans, and civil rights activists, the cemetery provides teachers and students with a unique opportunity to explore Afro-Caribbean and African American hidden stories and experiences in Florida.
RESOURCE LINKS:
BCN Contact Information:
Shannon Peck-Bartle
speck@usf.edu
Whispering Souls African American Cemetery (WSAAC)
WHISPERING SOULS
AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERY
(WSAAC)
FOUNDED: 1896
LOCATION: Clearwater, FL
AFFILIATION(S):
The African American Cemetery Alliance of Tampa Bay
HISTORY:
This 3/4 acre site is located in the middle of a residential subdivision. There are 20 visible markers - the oldest dated 1896 and 3 marking U.S. veterans - but estimates are that there are 130 burials at the site. A 2018 GPR survey has identified at least 90 possible burials and more anomalies. The firm history of the site is that it is on land near Safety Harbor that in the 1800s belonged to the pioneer McMullen family. Subsequent ownership includes the Coachman family in the early 1900s and, eventually, the Ehle family in the 1940s. The Ehles partitioned their acquisition into lots for residential development, but reserved Lot 15 - site of the current cemetery - which they deeded to a Safety Harbor African American fraternal organization in 1951, and the cemetery has been left undeveloped since. We do not know - and may never know - if the original cemetery extends beyond the deed lines of Lot 15, i.e., whether surrounding residences sit atop graves. The site has gone by the names "Safety Harbor Colored Cemetery" and "Helping Hands Cemetery" (for the fraternal organization deeded the site). Over the years, a group of Safety Harbor residents managed informal care for the site and in 2017, a new group of volunteers organized for more comprehensive care of the site. It was this 2017 group that gave the site its current name, "Whispering Souls African American Cemetery," and formed a NPO to formalize care for the site and assure its preservation from development for the African American community.
RESOURCE LINKS:
BCN Contact Information:
Jacqueline Hayes, WSAAC Board President
h.jacqueline40@yahoo.com
Zion Cemetery
ZION CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1901
LOCATION: Tampa, FL
AFFILIATION(S):
Zion Cemetery Preservation & Maintenance Society
University of South Florida
The African American Cemetery Alliance of Tampa Bay
Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN)
HISTORY:
Zion cemetery is the oldest African American cemetery in Tampa. The site currently sits underneath Robles Park Housing Complex which is undergoing archaeological excavation.
BCN Contact Information:
Leroy Moore
Moffett Cemetery
MOFFETT CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1888
ADDITONAL NAMES: St. Petersburg Cemetery
AFFILIATION(S):
The African American Cemetery Alliance of Tampa Bay
University of South Florida
HISTORY:
Moffett Cemetery was founded in 1888 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Originally designated for Civil War veterans, Moffett Cemetery was later used for African American burials. Moffett cemetery, as well as neighboring Evergreen and Oaklawn cemeteries, operated until 1926 when all three properties were closed and condemned by order of city officials. Per city ordinance, persons buried at Oaklawn, Evergreen and Moffett cemeteries were to be relocated based on race, with African Americans moved to Lincoln Cemetery and whites moved to Royal Palm Cemetery. The site now sits beneath the interstate which leads in and out of downtown St. Petersburg.
BCN Contact Information:
Antoinette Jackson
atjackson@usf.edu
https://heritagelab.org/
Oaklawn Cemetery
OAKLAWN CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1905
LOCATION: St. Petersburg, FL
AFFILIATION(S):
The African American Alliance of Tampa Bay
University of South Florida
HISTORY:
The former site of Oaklawn Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Florida is located on land which now serves as VIP Lot 1 parking lot at Tropicana Field. The site was segregated by section after neighboring Evergreen Cemetery (designated for African American burials) required space to expand. The cemetery operated until 1926 when it was decided by city officials to close and condemn the Oaklawn site, as well as nearby Moffett and Evergreen cemeteries. Per city ordinance, persons buried at Oaklawn were to be relocated based on race, with African Americans moved to Lincoln Cemetery and whites moved to Royal Palm Cemetery.
BCN Contact Information:
Antoinette Jackson
atjackson@usf.edu
https://heritagelab.org/
Evergreen Cemetery
EVERGREEN CEMETERY
Click here for full site brief
FOUNDED: 1905
LOCATION: St. Petersburg, FL
AFFILIATION(S):
The African American Cemetery Alliance of Tampa Bay
University of South Florida
HISTORY:
The former site of Evergreen Cemetery was established in 1905 in St. Petersburg, Florida. As a segregated cemetery, the site was designated specifically for African American burials until such time that expansion into neighboring Oaklawn cemetery (segregated by section) was required. Both Evergreen and Oaklawn sites, as well as Moffett cemetery, operated until 1926 when all three properties were closed and condemned by order of city officials. Per city ordinance, persons buried at Evergreen, Oaklawn, and Moffett cemeteries were to be relocated based on race, with African Americans moved to Lincoln Cemetery and whites moved to Royal Palm Cemetery. The site now sits underneath interstate 175, one of the cities main thoroughfares.
BCN Contact Information:
Antoinette Jackson
atjackson@usf.edu
http://heritagelab.org