African American Burial Ground

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Coordinates: 39°04′44″N 77°29′58″W / 39.0788°N 77.4994°W / 39.0788; -77.4994
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The African American Burial Ground is a historic cemetery for the enslaved, located in

Harry Byrd Highway (Virginia State Route 7) in Loudoun County, Virginia. Most of the enslaved buried there were from nearby Belmont Plantation
.

The abandoned site was rediscovered in 2015 by Rev. Michelle Thomas. Rev. Thomas was the president of the local NAACP chapter in 2019.[1] That year, Governor Ralph Northam appointed her to the Commission on African American History Education in the Commonwealth.[2]

In 2017, the real estate developer Toll Brothers, which owned the land, donated 2.75 acres (1.11 ha) to a new Loudoun Freedom Center. In 2021, the developer agreed to donate an additional 4 acres (1.6 ha), which will be used to re-create a schoolhouse and other structures used by enslaved people.[3]

Also planned are a columbarium and a scatter garden, where people can scatter ashes of their loved ones. In 2020 Michelle Thomas buried the first free Black in the cemetery: her 16-year-old son, dead of drowning.[3]

References

  1. The Daily News Leader (Staunton, Virginia
    ). 28 Sep 2020. p. A5.
  2. ^ Holtzclaw, Mike (2 Sep 2019). "Putting history into context. Commission to increase presence of lessons on African Americans' past". Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia). p. A1.
  3. ^
    Washington Post
    .

External links

39°04′44″N 77°29′58″W / 39.0788°N 77.4994°W / 39.0788; -77.4994

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