A View of African American Burial Grounds
On Tuesday, there was a talk at our county library for Black History Month. As a history enthusiast, I look forward to special events like this.
The presenter was Zachary Hottle, archivist at Shenandoah County Library. His talk was entitled “Grave Matters, An Exploration of Shenandoah County’s African American Burial Grounds.” He told us about the ones that have been identified so far. No doubt there were other cemeteries that have been lost to time. Even some of the ones that he listed have disappeared from view, as wooden markers disintegrated and stones sunk into the earth.
Today I took a few photos at Riverview Cemetery, which I’ll share below. On Sunday, I posted pictures of the Mount Jackson Colored Cemetery. Two years ago, I wrote a post on the Corhaven Graveyard.
The Riverview Cemetery is scenically located at the top of a hill. Unlike most of the other burial grounds on Zach‘s list, it does not date back to the time of slavery. It was established in 1906 and is still in use. There was an earlier cemetery in Woodstock before this one was established, but that one was not preserved.
Very interesting! Slavery is a sad time in our history. When I lived in NYC there was an African buriel ground found in downtown Manhattan in recent years--the ground had been opened to build but instead the site was preserved.
ReplyDeleteIt's best to remember our history so we don't relive its bad moments. Your pictures of the cloudy skies are wonderful!!
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