ST. MATTHEWS BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Early 1900s - 1940s

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Clearwater African American Cemeteries Memorial Committee

HISTORY:

St. Matthew Baptist Church Cemetery (located under the CRUM parking lot in Clearwater, Florida) was created in Clearwater Heights. The community is no longer viable, however the City of Clearwater Commission approved an annexation allowing construction over the cemetery to make way for Montgomery Wards department store in the early 1960's. All bodies were supposed to have been relocated to the cemetery in North Greenwood; however, as current Cardno ground truthing has proven, many bodies are still buried on the site. The City of Clearwater Commission also approved annexation allowing Palmetto Elementary School (also in Clearwater, FL) to be built over the North Greenwood Cemetery. Palmetto Elementary opened its doors in 1964. Current Ground Truthing performed by Cardno reveals not all bodies were moved.

BCN Contact Information:

Barbara Sorey Love

stpetebulletin@gmail.com

FREDRICK DOUGLAS CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1827

ADDITONAL NAMES: Douglas

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

There are records showing 2000 buried at Douglas but only 650 graves with headstones. Most of the people buried at Fredrick Douglas were born into slavery. The last burial took place in 1975. This cemetery has been neglected over the past 100 years. There are apartment buildings built close to the graves and flooding is a big issue when it rains. The cemetery was renamed in 1896 after Fredrick Douglas.

BCN Contact Information:

Michael Johnson

michael.johnson@alexandriava.gov

SocialResponsibilityGroup.org

LINCOLN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1926

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Lincoln Cemetery Society

HISTORY:

Lincoln Cemetery served as the main burial ground for St. Petersburg's black population from the year it opened in 1926 and throughout the segregation era. Veterans as far back as the U.S. Civil War are buried here, as well as notable civic historical figures. From years of neglect, the cemetery fell into deplorable condition. The Lincoln Cemetery Society Inc. has been established to change that. We hope you feel as compelled as we do to explore and preserve the cemetery's rich history!

BCN Contact Information:

http://www.lincolncemeterysociety.org/

PERSONS OF COLOR CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1816

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

Established ca. 1816 exclusively for the use of the area’s black population, the Persons of Color Cemetery at Kinderhook is a historically significant resource that illuminates an important and underrepresented aspect of this early Dutch-settled village’s history. The land on which this burial ground was established was willed for this purpose by John Rogers, a native of Ireland who came to Kinderhook ca. 1795. Rogers recognized the need for a place of repose for Kinderhook’s African-Americans and willed the property, one rood of land, to serve as “a cemetery for the people of colour in said Town ok Kinderhook to be used for that purpose and none other.” The Persons of Color Cemetery was in use for burials until ca. 1861, when it was closed due to lack of space for further interments. A 1914 account indicated that it was used until “every available inch was taken up.” Archeological studies estimate that there may be more than 500 sets of remains on the property. The Persons of Color Cemetery is located adjacent to the village park, Rothermel Park, and contains 15 headstones, 11 of which have legible names and dates of birth and/or death. The cemetery is now listed with the National Register of Historic Sites, as well as the New York State Register of Historic Places, and was formally re-consecrated during a ceremony held on May 13, 2017. The restoration and preservation of the cemetery has been a community effort. The property has been fenced with donated sections of 19th-century wrought-iron fencing, interspersed with planters that are maintained by the Kinderhook Garden Club. The park where the cemetery is located is an active gathering place for the community; village ballfields are located here and the Empire State Trail has a trailhead in the park, ensuring that many walkers and bikers pass by the cemetery. Local residents, as well as many visitors, stop by to read the historic site sign as well as the interpretative sign financed by the Pomeroy Foundation. The Village is currently establishing walking tours and brochures featuring the Persons of Color Cemetery. This site is open every day of the year between dawn and dusk.

BCN Contact Information:

Dale Leiser, Mayor of the Village of Kinderhook

okvillagehall@villageofkinderhook.org

LUTHERAN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1898

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

Lutheran Benevolent Society Cemetery in Baton Rouge.

According to an item in an 1880 New Orleans newspaper, the Lutheran Benevolent Society in Baton Rouge was established in 1858. It obtained a charter in 1872 with one of the organization’s incorporators being a member of an African American family that has been prominent for many generations and lent leadership to the Baton Rouge community. Beverly Victor Baranco was a signee of the newly organized 1872 Lutheran Benevolent Society domiciled in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Although Martin Luther was a ‘hero’ to protestant churches and many followed his Lutheran religion, Benevolent Societies so named, were unaffiliated with any specific religion or church, particularly the Lutheran Church. The 1872 Lutheran Benevolent Society was organized as a mutual aid society to provide help and services to its members after the Civil War when the traditional help from the plantation system was no longer available. Using the same 1872 charter, on May 9, 1898 the Lutheran Benevolent Society re-organized and re-registered with the Louisiana Secretary of State. The following year on December 9, 1898, the Lutheran Benevolent Society purchased a tract of land of more or less six acres from William Garig. This original land purchase forms the present day footprint of the historic Lutheran Cemetery. Almost 40 years later, the Society’s legal status was inactive ... so, once again in its long history and again using the same charter, the Lutheran Benevolent Society was again re-organized and re-registered with the Secretary of State in 1935. Today, the cemetery is cared for through the kindness of strangers.

BCN Contact Information:

Lillie P. Gallagher

LilliePetit@gmail.com

MACEDONIA ENSLAVE/NATIVE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1818

ADDITONAL NAMES: Old Macedonia Cemetery Morven, Georgia

AFFILIATION(S):

• Macedonia Community Foundation, Inc

HISTORY:

The Macedonia Slave/Native Cemetery dates back to 1818 when settlers moved into the Wiregrass Territories now identified as Brooks, Lowndes, Thomas and other counties. Oral and physical history documents tombstones and burial crypts from that era up to the early 1930's. These enslaved are the ones who built the historic Coffee Road and maintained the huge plantations during the Civil War era. The Coffee Road was the main road of travel to Florida. The enslaved, Andrew Jackson I and Romeo Wilson I who eventually purchased this property owned a grist mill and established a way station here where The Federal Colored Troops Company G 103 Regiment encamped to protect the Freedmen after the Civil war. They are buried here together with at least 100 other enslaved family and friends.

BCN Contact Information:

Fannie Marie Jackson Gibbs

fmjgibbs@gmail.com

HELPING HAND CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1897

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

Helping Hand Cemetery was deeded to five African-American Trustees in 1897 "for the sole purpose of establishing a cemetery for colored people" in Courtland, Virginia. Before this; however, according to records of some descendants, there were people interred at this graveyard site during and post slavery. Originally called The Courtland Colored Cemetery, the name was changed in 1912 to Helping Hand along with the establishment of a benevolent organization acting as a health and welfare club accepting 20 cents a month from community members, and paying out sick, unemployment, and death benefits. We are currently in possession of ledger books from 1918 - 1995 that lists the names of the community members who joined this club.

Descendants of these original trustees, came together in 2016 to form a new Helping Hand Trustee Board determined to return the cemetery to its original historical significance and beauty. The Town of Courtland itself has received historical significance based on the history and progress of African-Americans in this segregated town, the town where Nat Turner was tried and killed three blocks from our cemetery. Eligibility for a series of grants has enabled us to restore and maintain the cemetery consisting of approximately 650 interred.

BCN Contact Information:

Dolores Peterson, Trustee/Historian Helping Hand Cemetery Club

dvlp13@yahoo.com

BETHLEHEM METHODIST EPISCOPAL CEMETERY (AL06910)

FOUNDED: 1873

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• FPAN CRPT Alliance

HISTORY:

Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church and Cemetery were established in 1873, when Rev. Major Reddick donated one acre of land to Romeo Reddick, Rinaldo Reddick, Major Reddick, Henry Peterson, Adam Moulton, Richard Doby and Arthur Haynes, trustees. The land was part of a parcel awarded to Reddick through the 1862 Homestead Act. Archer, originally called Deer Hammock, became an economic hub for local plantations, especially after the cross-Florida railroad was built in the 1850s. Sen. David Levy Yulee’s Cottonwood was the most well known of these plantations. At least 25 African Americans who had once been enslaved were interred in the cemetery. Elbert McKinney Sr., born in 1829 in South Carolina, was buried here. McKinney, an enslaved blacksmith at Cottonwood, daily blew a ram’s horn to call the enslaved laborers to work. Ellen Lawrence, born ~1796 and died at the age of 88 in 1884, has the earliest marked grave in the cemetery. James Dansey homesteaded 39.98 acres to the east of Reddick’s donation, but sold the parcel to Rev. Frank Dansey in 1881. Dansey, founder of St. Joseph’s Missionary Baptist Church, began to use 1.28 acres nearest the Reddick donation for burials. Rev. Dansey was buried here in 1911.

BCN Contact Information:

Florida Public Archaeology Network, Central Region

snrudolph@usf.edu

https://bmecro.wordpress.com/

HENRY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1841

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

The Henry Cemetery is located east of Highway Z, approximately one mile south of the village of Reger in Sullivan County, Missouri. The area in which the Henry Cemetery is located was known as the Main Locust Settlement, noted by several histories as the earliest part of the county to be populated. The Henry Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places. It represents some of the pioneer families of Sullivan County. Though no towns or even churches were located near the cemetery during its formation Henry Cemetery is in many ways a community burial ground. The two-acre cemetery contains approximately 200 historic (pre-1955) graves, though several unmarked graves and recent burials are scattered throughout the cemetery. Gravestones within the Henry Cemetery date from 1841 to present day. Henry Cemetery is an example of neighbors banding together to provide for the needs of a community or group. Death is an inevitable part of life, and burial grounds were some of the first permanent markers of early settlement.

Though the slave population was relatively small in Sullivan County, at least two families associated with the cemetery were slaveholders. Robert Henry was born in Franklin County, Missouri. In the 1880 census, Robert Henry (no apparent relation to Thomas Henry) is listed as a single, African American, servant in the household of Joel DeWitt. Robert Henry died in 1883 and has a gravestone over his burial place. Oral tradition is that there are unmarked burials of slaves (or former slaves) in the cemetery. There are future plans to conduct a ground penetration radar survey to locate unmarked burials.

BCN Contact Information:

Glenda Richey

gsrichey@comcast.net

MOSIER VALLEY COMMUNITY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1865

ADDITONAL NAMES: Moses Valley, Moshier Valley

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

What was at one time the Lee Family farm is a 4 acres tract of land donated to the Mosier Valley community to the now freed slaves. The Lee Family didn't have enough slaves to be called a plantation. So the farm where over 50 slaves worked, the Family donated the land after they received the word in Texas that slavery had been abolished.

The community had come together to this high spot in the county after so many freed slaves had lost their land due to flooding. Many of them from the Mosier Plantation. The community remained the oldest black community in the state up until the 90s. Today most of the land has become encroached with industrial. The last stronghold is the community cemetery that only allow descendants through 4 generations to be buried there.

BCN Contact Information:

Benny Tucker

Anobletucker@gmail.com

MCDONOGHVILLE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Early 1800's

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Westside Cemetery Preservation Association

HISTORY:

McDonoghville Cemetery is a cemetery for the enslaved and formerly enslaved. It has been maintained under various jurisdictions; none of which based appear to be the legal owner(s) of the cemetery. McDonoghville Cemetery, originally a slave burial ground, was segregated in the early 1890's, as it was integrated between 1850-1890. Today it is unclear where the burials of the enslaved and formerly enslaved are located, even though the cemetery is still in use today and is maintained. 

The history of this cemetery as a slave burial ground is recorded in historical documents, yet the Jefferson Parish Historical Society sponsored a state marker in 2016 which omitted this history. Currently, I am working with a professor at the University of New Orleans who is including this cemetery in a cultural resource class that is currently being taught in the hopes of sponsoring a state marker that will address this omitted history. Also, this cemetery is rift with corruption that took place at the level of local governance allowing private business owners to violate the law, with notices of violations issued that were never enforced. This and other activities stemming from for profit activities associated with this cemetery have adversely impacted my family’s property inclusive of a false arrest in what is believed to have been an attempted land grab. A photojournalist is involved in documenting this and can be contacted if there is any media interest. Legal assistance may be needed in this matter.

BCN Contact Information:

Joan K. Garner

garner.empowerment@gmail.com

GABRIEL CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1902

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Gabriel Cemetery Association, Inc.

HISTORY:

Gabriel is the oldest African American cemetery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The cemetery's history is not completely known, but it is believed to have been founded in the 1800's. That belief is based on an existing headstone displaying the recorded internment date of 1902. There are graves that do not have headstones or identifying markers; some have given way due to years of natural erosion. The cemetery contains an array of traditional burial elements, which range from simple to more decorative markers, as well as vaults and slabs.

As of 2022 there is a total of 1,144 recorded burials which consists of (567) unmarked and (577) recorded burials. Gabriel Cemetery's historical addings continues with a rich history of military veterans totalling 70 whom have served in wars from WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, and more. This is to include civil rights activists who made major changes in Pascagoula, Jackson County and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There has been an updated listing of plots completed by Researcher/ Project Director Anne' McMillion in April of 2021 to better identify the unmarked and recorded graves.

BCN Contact Information:

H.A.N.A.P. LLC

h.a.n.a.p.consult@gmail.com

https://gabrielcemetery.wixsite.com/gcainc

GREENWOOD CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1874

ADDITONAL NAMES: Greenwood Cemetery Preservation Association

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

Greenwood Cemetery was the first Black non-sectarian, commercial burial ground in the St Louis region post-Civil War. It is 31.85 acres with over 50,000 souls interred, including Harriet Scott, freedom suit plaintiff & wife of Dred Scott. Their case went before the U.S. Supreme Court, Dred Scott v. Sandford; Charlton Hunt Tandy, Civil war veteran & activist who assisted the "Exodusters" in their pursuit of a safe & better life; Lucy Delaney, who wrote the 1890s slave narrative, "From the Darkness Cometh the Light". Greenwood Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Separate and unequal in life as well as in death. Greenwood's history tells the story of those who helped shaped the city of St Louis and received little or no benefit of the city's prosperity.

BCN Contact Information:

Shelley Morris

smorris@greenwoodstl.org

www.greenwoodstl.org

ZION CHRISTIAN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1876

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Zion Community Project

HISTORY:

Founded in 1876 by a group of freed slaves calling themselves the Sons of Zion, this cemetery on South Parkway in Memphis was the African American community's major cemetery for approximately 40 years. Zion Cemetery is the oldest African American cemetery in Memphis. The public library has compiled a listing of all persons buried in the cemetery from 1896 onwards. There are likely over 30,000 people buried there on 15 acres. The deceased include, among other notables, Georgia Patton Washington, the first black female physician in Tennessee; Calvin McDowell, William Stewart and Thomas Moss, the friends of Ida B. Wells whose 1892 triple lynching inspired her national anti-lynching campaign; Thomas Cassels, a lawyer who served in the Tennessee General Assembly; Benjamin Hooks' grandfather, Charles; and musician W. C. Handy's infant daughter.

The cemetery was largely abandoned after the 1970s until control of the site was taken over by the CME church and, eventually, the volunteer organization known as the Zion Community Project. Efforts to clean and maintain the cemetery have now evolved into plans for devising educational programming, additional historical designations, preservation, and perhaps some restoration. The site was added to the Register of Historic Places in 1990.

BCN Contact Information:

Zion Community Project

zioncommunityproject@gmail.com

https://zion-community.herokuapp.com/

WESTVIEW COMMUNITY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1940

ADDITONAL NAMES: Pompano Beach Historical Society

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

Westview Community Cemetery is located on the south side of West Copans Road, north of NW 22nd Court. The cemetery is situated in an industrial area with the western most boundary adjacent to Pilot Steel, a steel fabrication company, on the eastern boundary there are self-storage warehouses and other construction related businesses. According to Frank Cavaioli, the Christian Pallbearer Society formed Westview Cemetery during the Great Depression. Local resident Paul Hunter donated the land because the social norms in the City of Pompano Beach prevented the African American community from burial in the established city cemeteries. This was a result of defacto and dejure Jim Crow racial segregation that existed in Florida, and Broward County into the early 1970’s. It was the only cemetery African Americans could be laid to rest in Pompano Beach and among the few in Broward County until the 1960’s. As such, many important African American and Bahamian pioneering families and leaders in the early settlement of Pompano Beach are buried in Westview Community Cemetery. Some of the pioneers that settled this are include members of the Ali, Armbrister, Cason, Cooper, Grooms, McBride, Rhone, Rolle and Wooten families.

BCN Contact Information:

Roberto Fernandez, III

robferna@fiu.edu

NORTH WOODLAWN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1920

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

Woodlawn Cemetery was established during the 1920s when government officials restricted the African-American community to the northwest quadrant of Fort Lauderdale. It was the result of institutionalized racial segregation in Broward County from 1927 to 1964, and was the only cemetery African-Americans could be buried in until 1962. As such, many important African-American leaders in the early settlement of Fort Lauderdale are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. It is the only historic African-American cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, and is considered a rare remaining historic resource associated with the African-American community’s early history.

BCN Contact Information:

Roberto Fernandez, III

robferna@fiu.edu

STANTON FAMILY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1853

ADDITONAL NAMES: African American Heritage Preservation Foundation

AFFILIATION(S):

• Preservation Virginia

HISTORY:

Started in 1853, the Stanton Family Cemetery is a very rare surviving burying ground established by free blacks prior to the Civil War. The Stantons were one of the few extended free black families living in rural Virginia at the height of the slavery period.

The unfenced plot contains at least thirty-six marked burials, a large number for African American family cemeteries, and likely holds additional unmarked burials. Many of the graves have simple uninscribed headstones and footstones of the local slate. The cemetery was originally part of the a forty-six-acre farm purchased in 1853 by Nancy and Daniel Stanton. Although the family moved from the homestead in 1930, it retained ownership of the land and the cemetery and continued family burials there. The last occurred in 1941 when Harriet Stanton Scott, granddaughter of Nancy and Daniel Stanton, was interred.

The Stanton Family Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. The cemetery became the first known privately held free African American family cemetery to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2020, we conducted a Ground Penetration Radar survey and discovered an additional 13 unmarked graves bringing the total of burials to 49.

BCN Contact Information:

African American Heritage Preservation Foundation, Inc.

ringram@aahpfdn.org

www.aahpfdn.org

MOUNT OLIVE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1899

ADDITONAL NAMES: Saint Peters, Old Union, Mother AUMP Church

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

Mount Olive Cemetery sits on 13 acres just outside the city limits of Wilmington, Delaware. It holds the remains of approximately 13,000 Delawareans – the ancestors of Wilmington’s African American community. Active burials at Mount Olive began in 1899 and continued for another seven decades. But the history of Mount Olive begins long before.

Starting in the early 1800s, members of Rev. Peter Spencer’s congregation were buried on King Street in Wilmington, in a cemetery adjacent to Rev. Spencer’s church. Today, Peter Spencer Plaza in downtown Wilmington marks the location of the original church. But by 1861, further burials at that site were banned by city ordinance, and most of the graves were eventually moved to other cemeteries.

Thereafter, a number of small cemeteries, operated by various Black churches, sprung up in other parts of Wilmington and served the city’s African American population. Most can be found on an 1868 county map. They include: St. Peters Cemetery, 12th & Union Cemetery, Ezion Cemetery, Union Cemetery, and Old Union Cemetery (also called 12th & French Cemetery).

As Wilmington’s city limits expanded in the late 1800s and early 1900s, efforts to relocate Black cemeteries intensified. Old Union Cemetery records no burials after 1895. And in 1906, legal efforts were undertaken to condemn St. Peters Cemetery and neighboring Ezion Cemetery and convert the land into a city park.

By 1914, city leaders unfortunately succeeded in condemning all Black cemeteries inside the Wilmington city limits. Mount Olive was a fairly new cemetery at this time, and was situated outside the city limits, so it was not impacted by these actions. However, as the old Black cemeteries were razed, the disinterred remains and headstones were mostly brought to Mount Olive. In addition to accepting these older displaced remains, Mount Olive also received the majority of the city’s Black burials through the first half of the twentieth century. Burials at Mount Olive began to dwindle in the 1970s, as Delaware cemeteries became de-segregated. The last recorded burial was in September of 1987.

Today, Mount Olive holds the remains of veterans from the Civil War, Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Doctors, ministers and educators are all buried there – along with thousands of working-class people who helped make Wilmington the thriving community that it is today. A conductor on the Underground Railroad rests at Mount Olive, as do the parents of Louis Redding, the lawyer who successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.

BCN Contact Information:

Regina Barry

rmbarry1066@earthlink.net

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~rbarry4145/genealogy/MtOliveCemetery/MtOliveHome.html

CYPRESS GROVE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1840s

ADDITONAL NAMES: Hollywood Plantation, Valley Farm, Taylor Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• Arkansas Archeology Survey

HISTORY:

The Cypress Grove Cemetery is located on what was once the Hollywood Plantation, established during the 1840s by Dr. Jonathan Martin Taylor. At its peak, the plantation covered over 10,000 acres with 83 enslaved Black laborers. According to oral history, after Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, Taylor ordered that the slaves working on the Hollywood Plantation be freed. Some stayed on as hired servants to the remaining Taylor descendants, some traveled north with the help of Taylor and his resources, and others made homes elsewhere in southeastern Arkansas.

The Cypress Grove Cemetery was used for at least two decades into the twentieth century and shows evidence that local Black families belonged to fraternal organizations during that time. Two of the gravestones state that those buried beneath them were members of the Lily of the Valley Chapter 1007 of the Mosaic Templars of Winchester. Another gravestone states that its owner was a member of the Sweet Home Chamber 2620. Membership in such fraternal organizations offered insurance for grave markers and burial plots—which African Americans had no control over during slavery. This Black cemetery is one of many in southeastern Arkansas, which still has a large Black population today.

BCN Contact Information:

Dr. Matthew P. Rooney

mr096@uark.edu

https://archeology.uark.edu/

NEW GASCONY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1910

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Pine Bluff Historical Society

• Arkansas Archeological Survey of UAPB

HISTORY:

The cemetery does not appear on the 1905 map but does appear on the 1935 map. I do not know when it was established. The oldest burial found was 1915. The most recent burial was in 1972. The cemetery fell out of use soon after that as the community around it migrated away. Many moving north to Chicago. The stones found so far are very spread out, but mostly intact. There is very little damage to be found on each one so far. A few aluminum grave markers have been found, but no names or dates could be seen on them. There are plenty of grave depressions. There is even one grave enclosed with fencing, but I could not find a head stone for it. The cemetery is lined with tall trees and covered in vines. The cemetery is surrounded by row crop fields that vary between corn, soybean, and cotton. The area of the cemetery has been left to itself, unattended or molested.

New Gascony was founded in the 1800’s by a Frenchman. He named the town for his home of Gascony, France. There was an attempt made to have it be made the county seat. It was the county seat for a short time before reverting back to Pine Bluff. New Gascony was a popular stop for boats going down the Arkansas River, having it’s own dock. The mail route came through here from an early time in the county. It was even included on most train schedules in the area. A Mr. John Gracie was a large land holder, owning most of New Gascony. At times the town is referred to as Gracie. This town included a few churches, school houses, saloon, post office, corner store, and a few cemeteries. Several homes lined the streets at some point too. During the time of Mr. Gracie several Italian immigrants came to the area to work on the land as tenant farmers. They established a catholic church and cemetery not far from the New Gascony Cemetery. The catholic cemetery was used for the white Catholics of the are, while the New Gascony Cemetery was for the blacks (often Baptist). I think there was a Baptist church across from the cemetery at one point, but I can’t be sure yet. The area produced many crops and families over the years. But with the strong ties to slavery, rasicm never left the area. Black farmers were pushed off their own land, through dubiously legal means. Pine Bluff was often a site for KKK meetings and marches. The black community lessened and lessened until they were pretty much gone. The land that use to hold homes turned over to fields and trees. Old houses were often burned down or striped down for parts. A few blank spots remain as a reminder of what use to be. Very few people know of the cemetery now. Or if they know of it, they know only that it exists.

BCN Contact Information:

Michele Jones

michelethmpsn527@gmail.com

https://cemeteryhunter.home.blog/?frame-nonce=7cd88957cb