HOPEWELL CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1891, but likely before

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Hopewell Cemetery is an abandoned African-American cemetery located on a wooded and eroding land tract that also includes the likely site of the first Anglo-American trading post and steamboat port used by early settlers, native Caddo Indians, and free and enslaved African-Americans. Multiple land owners own the land, and the City of Shreveport has directed storm water runoff to empty in the wooded area. Several graves are broken, open, and not documented, and very difficult to survey/document due to the elevation and vegetation. There have many several parties interested in cleaning it up, and we've trimmed sections of it up here and there, but it needs a lot of support to truly restore the cemetery / potentially relocate some graves to higher ground. Dr. Gary Joiner at LSU-Shreveport believes there are likely earlier graves there and many more than have been documented thus far. There are two WWI veterans buried there and several members of one or two families who were instrumental in the Stoner Hill neighborhood of Shreveport.

BCN Contact Information:

Friends of the Coates Bluff Nature Trail

info@coatesbluff.org

coatesbluff.org

GOD’S ACRE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Sometime prior to 1867

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

BCN Contact Information:

Friends of Robert Lewis

1892RobertLewis@gmail.com

Crystal Memorial Gardens Cemetery

FOUNDED: 1880s

ADDITONAL NAMES: Crystal River African-American Memorial Gardens

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Crystal Memorial Gardens is a historic cemetery and was formerly known as Crystal River African American Memorial Gardens. Crystal Memorial Gardens cemetery was originally belonged to Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, which was founded on October 4, 1884. Mt. Olive MBC is the oldest black church and the second oldest church in Citrus County, Florida.

Mt. Olive Missionary MBC deeded the Crystal Memorial Gardens Cemetery to the "Community" in 1976.  A community-based Board of Directors was created to operate the cemetery that is still in place today.

BCN Contact Information:

Andrea K. McCray

friendsofcmgcemetery@gmail.com

friendsofcmgcemetery.com

LANDON ROAD CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1904

ADDITONAL NAMES: Landon Colored Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Landon Road Cemetery is located on the Bernard Bayou in the Side Camp Community. Records indicate the burial ground was established in the late 1800s with the last confirmed burial being 1967. The cemetery is the final resting place of many African Americans who lived in the unincorporated northwest area of Harrison County.

Many of those interred at Landon Road Cemetery laid the foundation of what the Mississippi Gulf Coast is today. They worked in the lumber, shipping, and railroad industries. The cemetery itself is situated on property which was once owned by the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad and used as a turpentine still where multiple employees labored through extremely harsh working conditions and often died while doing so. Many of these workers and their families purchased plots and were buried at Landon Road Cemetery.

Today, the cemetery is hidden from public view. It lies deep within a wooded area on private property. The landowner is not willing to allow family members to visit or to clear a path to the cemetery for restoration purposes. As a result, the cemetery is in danger of being lost forever. Research shows there are approximately 100 known graves in the cemetery with at least 5 veteran headstones present.

BCN Contact Information:

Mariam May-Clayton

savingmscemeteries@gmail.com

MAPLE GROVE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1901

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

On June 19, 1901, Articles of Incorporation for the Richmond Colored Cemetery Company were signed and filed with the Madison County Court. Four African American men, Private Grandson Boggs, BP Langford, Thomas H. Broaddus and John L. Francis filed the document to be effective July 1st, 1901 for the purpose of conducting business as a cemetery for 50 years on the site.

Maple Grove Cemetery is the largest African American cemetery in Richmond and is located at the corner of East Main and Spring Streets. Additional land was added in 1910 and also several years later.

There are over 1700 grave stones and many unidentified gravesites within the cemetery. There are over 250 Military members interred in the cemetery (Buffalo Soldiers – Spanish American War, United States Colored Troops, US Navy – Messmen, Seaman and Reservist, US Army Air Corp/US Army - Tuskegee Airmen and support staff, U S Army Reservist, Marines, U S Coast Guard member and 2 female military members).

We know that this land was used as a burial place many years earlier than 1901 because the earliest stone is of Sarah Clay dated 1889.

The name of Maple Grove is also a mystery, this land has no formal document that contain that name. Richmond citizens have always referred to the cemetery as Maple Grove but the description does not refer to that name.

Many individuals and groups have maintained the cemetery over the many years. Much history has been uncovered about the people, places and occupations of the many individuals interred in the cemetery. The current caretaker – The Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery have placed historical markers at over 67 gravesites and researched their contributions to Richmond and Madison County.

The Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery, INC was established in October 2020 as a non-profit corporation, operates exclusively as a 501 (c)(3) to provide for perpetual care and maintenance of Maple Grove Cemetery. The Corporation is governed by 11 Board members and is solely supported by donations.

BCN Contact Information:

——-

——-

——

FREEDOMLAND CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1854

ADDITONAL NAMES: Colored People's Burial Ground

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

This site sits in Floyds Knobs, IN which is on the Indiana side of the Louisville metro area. The location is not easy to get to. It's about half a mile hike, deep in the woods on a steep hill and flows into a valley. In the mid 1800's this area would have been considered "the country", of New Albany, IN and Louisville, KY. Many escaping slavery ended up right over the KY border in Southern, Indiana. This would have been one of the segregated cemeteries, in one of the first union cities to border a confederate state in Indiana.

This cemetery contains appx 300 souls, however, some believe there could be closer to 1,000. It's also speculated to possibly be the largest segregated cemetery in the state of Indiana. The site dates back to 1854 from a deed. However, I personally suspect the site to be much older due to the number of stone markers with no information engraved. There are only appx 6-10 headstones that are legible. Most of the sites are marked with a colorful piece of stone. And many are no longer marked at all.

BCN Contact Information:

Piper Robbins

piperrobbins@gmail.com

FISHING CREEK PLACE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Unknown

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Fishing Creek Place Cemetery was discovered in 2021 after lying undisturbed on private land in York County, South Carolina. Ground penetrating radar has established that there are 144 confirmed graves in this cemetery and numerous likely graves that were not 100% confirmed due to the ground shifting over time. Historical research has allowed us to determine that this cemetery was the enslaved cemetery of the Lowry Plantation which had enslaved individuals from the 1820s until emancipation at which time over 150 enslaved were freed. Local decedents of these individuals have also been found and work in this regard is ongoing. The family that currently owns this property has cleared the cemetery of underbrush, placed markers on each identified graves to prevent future loss, and is in the process of building a fence and gates to delineate this site from the surrounding area.

BCN Contact Information:

Andrew Lazenby

joemess2@gmail.com

HUTCHINSON FAMILY & COMMUNITY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries

ADDITONAL NAMES: Botany Bay Plantation & Wildlife Preserve

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

On June 13, 2023, a group of historical professionals, direct descendants, and concerned members of the Edisto Island community discovered an African American cemetery on Botany Bay Plantation and Wildlife Reserve. This cemetery dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries (before slavery ended). Our historic cemeteries serve as a final stop for our loved ones as well as a window into the past. They not only represent the last resting place of our black ancestors, but they are also actual artifacts of American History.

For those who have studied history, we know that Black people didn’t start being buried in church cemeteries until after the Civil War. So, the question is where are the remains of our beloved ancestors that lived before the Civil War? Historical records from the 1850’s indicate that Edisto Island had 62 operating plantations on an island that is 12-mile long and 8-mile. 62 plantations. It is widely known that enslaved people were almost exclusively buried where they lived or worked at the time. It is our earnest belief that this recent discovery of 16 graves is only the beginning of what lies beneath the surface. We now know that beyond a shadow of a doubt that our people are there waiting to be found.

So why do we care? We care because most of these sites are in real danger of being lost, be it from development, neglect, or simply the loss of community knowledge regarding their locations. We now need to look at the importance of preserving these sacred spaces as well as steps we can take to save them. These graveyards, burial grounds, and cemeteries not only honor our ancestors; they're also an important resource for historians and genealogists who want to tell our history. However, these burial sites are often forgotten or ignored. The protection of these burial grounds is critical to ensuring a more complete, comprehensive understanding of history on Edisto Island, South Carolina. This African American cemetery and others yet to be discovered hold the untold stories of thousands of Blacks who lived and died on Edisto Island and the integral role they played in its very complicated history.

BCN Contact Information:

Greg Estevez

greg_estevez@hotmail.com

ROSEWOOD CEMETERY

FOUNDED: dates to late 1800s or early 1900s

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

———

BCN Contact Information:

Edward Gonzalez-Tennant

edward.gonzaleztennant@utrgv.edu

CEDAR KEY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1888, but its graves date back to 1872

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The Cedar Key Cemetery project scope of work was contracted by Digital Heritage Interactive LLC. The results of this project includes an interactive map based on the field mapping of approximately 1,250 marked burials and other cemetery furniture (e.g., walls, benches) in the Cedar Key Cemetery. This interactive map and the GIS that informs it also includes the results of a GPR survey to identify subsurface anomalies. This project provides new historical information through a complete inventory of all marked burials (as of June 2022) as well as GPR survey of 18 grids containing approximately 90 unmarked burials.

BCN Contact Information:

Edward Gonzalez-Tennant

edward.gonzaleztennant@utrgv.edu

ANGEL VISIT BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1867

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Angel Visit Baptist Church Cemetery has been a burial place for African Americans since the 19th century. Whereas we do not know the date of the first burial, the church purchased its first parcel of land in 1867 and we believe that the cemetery was started soon thereafter.

BCN Contact Information:

Bessida Cauthorne White

angelvisitbaptistchurch@gmail.com

GREEN HILL HISTORIC AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1872

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

In September, 2017, a group of Martinsburg, West Virginia residents formed a committee to look into the possibility of restoring the long abandoned Green Hill African American Cemetery. This .6 acre site is adjacent to Green Hill Cemetery, referred to as the "White Cemetery" as African Americans were not permitted to be buried there. Over the years, our site had been used as dumping area for their landscaping debris and it was generally used as a community dumping ground, with trash and discarded appliances. It was completely overgrown. In December of that year, a small group of volunteers met at the site to start work. Some 300 trees were cut down together with stumps that have been pulled and hauled away. On November 21, 2020, a dedication was held to acknowledge those buried there.

Since that time, volunteers have continued to maintain the landscaping, add improvements. Benches have been added, a stone cross has been placed on the site, a sign has been erected and the group has been established as a 501c(3) organization. Thanks to fund raising and local grants, a survey was done and determined that this plot of land did not convey to the Green Cemetery when the land was originally purchased for their cemetery in 1854. The surveyors uncovered a record from 1872 where a group of African Americans purchased the plot for $100 and became the original trustees. Our group retained a lawyer and it was discovered through a state statute that if we were able to find five descendants of an individual buried in the cemetery, we could petition the court to name new trustees. This was successfully done and we now have six trustees to oversee the continuing establishment of our cemetery. We are aware there are two lynching victims in the cemetery and it was the descendants of one of them, Joe Burns, which allowed this to be accomplished. We are continuing to make improvements, including having ground penetrating radar done, which located 225 graves, 20 of infants and children. We have raised funds to erect a fence between the two cemeteries.

BCN Contact Information:

Nancy Oudekerk

nmyster@comcast.net

Green Hill Historic African-American Cemetery | Martinsburg WV | Facebook

FORREST CITY COLORED CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Unknown

ADDITONAL NAMES: Purifoy Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• St. Francis County Historical Society

HISTORY:

The Forrest City Colored Cemetery is a long forgotten African American Cemetery were several prominent black leaders and politicians are laid to rest. For example, JH Blount (the first Black Governale candidate), Wallace Purifoy (Black and Tan party), and Dr. RA Williams (founder of Supreme Royal Circle of Friends of the World). This cemetery has been forgotten. As well as the significant historical beacons buried here.

BCN Contact Information:

Angela Wilburn

wilburna2015@gmail.com

STARKVILLE COLORED CEMETERY

FOUNDED: unknown

ADDITONAL NAMES: Brush Arbor

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The Brush Arbor, or Starkville Colored Cemetery, is an over 200-year-old, historically Black cemetery stationed central to residential life in Starkville Mississippi. It is among the oldest cemeteries in Starkville and has likely existed as a public graveyard since Starkville’s founding. Many notable names reside within the cemetery such as one of Oktibbeha county’s legislators, Ben Chiles, a World War II vet, and other African Americans instrumental in the development of Starkville. Despite being here since Starkville’s conception, the Brush Arbor/Starkville Colored Cemetery remains widely unrecognized.

Dr. Jordan Lynton-Cox of Mississippi State University is head of the Brush Arbor/Starkville Colored Cemetery Community-Engaged Field Program, a three-year project dedicated to historic preservation and restoration of the cemetery through decolonial methods. For information, email brusharbor@anthro.msstate.edu.

BCN Contact Information:

Dr. Jordan Lynton-Cox

jlynton@anthro.msstate.edu

MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1919

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Established in 1919, Memorial Park Cemetery is one of the oldest Black American cemeteries in Tampa. The 20-acre cemetery, located in East Tampa, holds over 6,000 burials, although the exact number is unknown. Throughout Memorial Park there are reminders of those who lived, served, and died in the city, from war veterans to the factory workers who made Tampa the Cigar Capital of the World.

In 1923, the southwest portion of Memorial Park Cemetery was dedicated to Black American veterans. This area is marked with the Florida Negro World War Veterans Memorial, and it was funded through the cooperation of the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary and the Booker Washington branch of the Tampa Chapter, American Red Cross. The dedication of this portion of the cemetery was marked with services held by the Tampa Urban League on Memorial Day. At that time, burial space for Black Americans was limited largely to cemeteries outside the city limits of Tampa. The cemetery includes at least one veteran of the American Civil War. Veterans from nearly each 20th century war America participated are interned at Memorial Park Cemetery, representing over 150 years of American military history.

BCN Contact Information:

Tampa Parks and Recreation Department

neris.reyero@tampagov.net

https://www.tampa.gov/parks-and-recreation/parks-and-facilities

CHURCH KNOLL BURIAL GROUND

FOUNDED: Pre-Civil War likely in the 1820's or 30's

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The Church Knoll is a burial ground of those people enslaved at Fife Plantation (and possibly surrounding plantations) and some of their descendants after Freedom. Fife Plantation was one of the Savannah River rice plantations on the South Carolina side of the river located in what was Beaufort County, SC and is now part of Jasper County. It is a few miles from downtown Savannah, GA. While there are only five gravestones in the cemetery, ground penetrating radar indicates that there are over 600 graves. The size of the cemetery suggests that it was a burial ground not just for Fife, but for surrounding rice plantations as well which are now all part of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge next to Fife.

There is documentation of those enslaved at Fife in 1851, along with records from the Freedmen's Bureau related to Field Order No. 15, and subsequent 1866 labor contracts. These documents, along with censuses, have allowed for the possibility of finding descendants of those who are buried there. Many of the freedmen and women formerly enslaved at Fife and other nearby plantations settled in nearby Levy, Bellinger and Hardeeville, SC and their descendants still live in these communities.

BCN Contact Information:

Eleanor Harrison Bregman

eleanorharrison@me.com

PLUMMERS CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Prior to 1898

ADDITONAL NAMES: Mount Calvary

AFFILIATION(S):

• Save Austin's Cemeteries

HISTORY:

Plummers Cemetery is a historically African American, Upper South folk cemetery, containing family plots, handmade markers, and examples of art and craft. Plummers Cemetery was likely established prior to 1898, the death year of Jack Jones, possibly the first person interred in the cemetery with a marker.128 The cemetery may have been known as Mount Calvary Cemetery. No map of grave lots has been located for Plummers, and early twentieth century burial dates appear to be located throughout the site. Some family plots were clearly purchased as a unit and occupied over time, as in the other city cemeteries, but the condition or lack of grave markers makes the development of the cemetery difficult to determine today.

The cemetery is relatively small—only about eight acres in size—and burials have taken place fairly continuously throughout the 20th century and into the present day. Plummers Cemetery contains a variety of handmade, craftsman carved, machine carved, and military grave markers. Many of the handmade markers are poured concrete with inset letters and are notable for the content of the aggregate, which in many cases features large pieces of mica, a stone with high reflectivity, mixed into or pressed into the surface of the concrete.

BCN Contact Information:

Save Austin's Cemeteries

President@SAChome.org

sachome.org

EVERGREEN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1926 (early cemetery founded in 1891)

ADDITONAL NAMES: Highland Park Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• Save Austin's Cemeteries

HISTORY:

Evergreen Cemetery was established in 1926 by Austin’s City Council for the exclusive use of African-Americans. It includes a portion of an earlier municipal cemetery called Highland Park Cemetery. Today, there are over 12,000 burials at Evergreen.

When you step into Evergreen and walk among the markers, you are surrounded by the people who helped build the community of Austin. Politicians, educators, businesspeople, artists, musicians, veterans, and laborers. The history of our city can be told by learning about the stories of people buried here.

BCN Contact Information:

Save Austin's Cemeteries

President@SAChome.org

sachome.org

UNION RIDGE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1830s

ADDITONAL NAMES: Davidson Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The Union Ridge Heritage Association was created by the descendants of those buried in Union Ridge Cemetery and/or who attended Hord AME Chapel. The Union Ridge Heritage Association goal is to restore and maintain the cemetery and Hord AME Chapel. They wish to respectfully honor the family members buried at Union Ridge and pass on the knowledge of Union Ridge.

BCN Contact Information:

Charles Thompson

ctjazzy@gmail.com

BERRY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1880

ADDITONAL NAMES: Holy Resurrection Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• Ozarks Afro-American Heritage Museum

HISTORY:

The Berry Cemetery, also known as Holy Resurrection Cemetery, is an historic African American burial ground; at least 73 individuals, mostly African Americans, have been interred in the cemetery since 1880. The cemetery is located near Ash Grove, a town in southwest Missouri, in the Ozarks region of the U.S. The one-acre cemetery is in a rural setting, on a rise overlooking fields and bordered on three sides by woods. The burial ground itself is a relatively open green space with scattered evergreen and deciduous trees, reached by a dirt track from a paved rural highway.

The Berry Cemetery today contains at least 60 historic grave markers including 25 inscribed head stones, 11 inscribed foot stones, 15 head or foot stones without inscriptions, six concrete markers, and a depression bordered by upright field stones. The cemetery also contains two (or three) stone cairns identified in Berry family oral history as Indigenous burials markers. In addition, in recent years, multiple wooden posts and Orthodox wooden crosses have been placed at previously unmarked graves. Among the historic stone markers, the most common materials are limestone and marble. Gravestone styles include tablet, block, pulpit, cross-vault obelisk, and unshaped fieldstone. Burials are arranged in rows oriented north-south and graves are oriented east-west with headstones at the west end of graves.

**Click to read more

BCN Contact Information:

Dr. Elizabeth Sobel

ESobel@missouristate.edu

Berrycem.com