We celebrate the life of Gladys Cook Bushrod

A most remarkable woman passed away this morning. Gladys Cook Bushrod, of Mason Neck, Fairfax County, Virginia. She would have turned 104 on the 9th of February.

Mother Bushrod's father-in-law, John Bushrod, was born into slavery in Fairfax County on June 8th 1862. Mother Bushrod was separated from slavery by just one generation.

Together with her late husband Courtney Bushrod, she raised their six children on Mason Neck. In the 1950s she petitioned the Fairfax County School Board for, and was granted, better school bus transportation for all the African American children on Mason Neck.

She was the matriarch of Shiloh Baptist Church in Lorton, Virginia for upwards of seven decades.

Mother Bushrod and her family were the focus of many of Gunston Hall's Seeds of Independence African American history programs, including the program that will be presented this February.

She was a community icon. She was a kind and generous woman. It was an honor to have known her.

John Wesley Methodist Church, Harper's Ferry, WV

This unnamed church is located on West Ridge Street in Harper's Ferry, WV. It is two doors down from the First Zion Baptist Church.

There are several visible (and some barely visible) rough cut field stones in the "front yard" close to West Ridge Street. They could be marking burials. The ground between structure and road is very pitted and suffers from poor drainage. 

If anyone knows the name/history of this structure, please let me know.

Much appreciated. Maddy

UPDATED  January 25, 2013.

Big thanks to Don Burgess and Christy Huddle for setting me straight on this property. This structure was the John Wesley Methodist Church. It was the first African American church in Harper's Ferry, built in 1879. According to Mr. Burgess, there are no graves on the property. There is an African American a short distance from the church on Old Furnace Road (which will be documented on my next visit...) Thank you!

No visible cornerstone:

Back of the structure taken from Putnam Street:

First Zion Baptist Church, Harper's Ferry, WV

Cornerstone reads:
ZB [Zion Baptist] Church
July 29
1894

View from Putnam Street. First Zion Baptist Church is the red structure on the left: