November 24, 2012

Harmony United Methodist Church & Cemetery, Hamilton, VA

Enslaved individuals that attended Harmony Church had their own separate burial space adjacent to the white congregant burials. The original slave cemetery location was apparently ignored by Harmony Church and parts were turned into a parking lot in the 1990s. After much outrage, Harmony UMC erected a memorial to the people who may or may not still be buried there (witnesses saw bulldozers plowing through the land and were not told if the bodies had been removed and reinterred elsewhere). The surviving headstones that had marked the disturbed graves of the former slaves and their descendants were later made into a communal marker.

Hand carved slate markers:

White congregant burials:

7 comments :

  1. Pretty rotten thing to do. Putting them all together in a slab of concrete doesn't make up for demolishing their final resting place if the reason they did it was the anger of other people

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousJuly 21, 2024

      Gotta agree ain't right

      Delete
    2. AnonymousJuly 22, 2024

      This makes me incredibly sad. So disrespectful.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJuly 22, 2024

    So right! I think it further shows their lack of respect. Smh ..

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  3. AnonymousJuly 22, 2024

    Folks forget to treat others the way they'd want to be treated. What if it were their ancestors?!

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  4. AnonymousJuly 23, 2024

    No one alive is responsible for this. Put it to rest.

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  5. AnonymousJuly 23, 2024

    This is sad, I don't understand why people think they can destroy historical places.

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