Slave Cemetery (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this trailside historical marker:

Slave Cemetery
There are no records that document the number of enslaved or free African-Americans who are buried in this cemetery. From oral histories and a handful of early 19th-century visitor accounts, estimates range from 100-150 people. Among those individuals thought to be interred here is William Lee, George Washington's personal servant during the Revolutionary War, who was granted freedom and an annuity in Washington's will. In 2014, a multi-year archaeological survey began in order to better understand the cemetery's size and organization, and to find out how many people were laid to rest on this hilltop. No human remains are disturbed in this process.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Atlas Obscura website:

Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery
Alexandria, Virginia
The graveyard holding the remains of George Washington's slaves was forgotten for nearly 200 years.

For nearly two centuries, the woods at George Washington’s famous estate contained a secret. A graveyard for the former president’s enslaved population lay buried beneath a thicket of vegetation. Removed from the property’s typical tourist spots, the burial ground was all but erased from existence.

A handful of 19th-century accounts briefly mention the overgrown plot of land, but it otherwise remained off-the-beaten-path and overlooked at the historic estate. An 1885 map of Mount Vernon portrays the burial ground, but by this time it was already becoming lost to the woodland’s leafy grasp.

A marble marker was placed on the site in the 1920s, but this too was soon forgotten as it disappeared beneath a tangle of vegetation. It wasn’t until the 1980s, when a group scouring the grounds for information about the slave graveyard stumbled upon the slab of stone, that the cemetery began garnering proper interest and interpretation.

Today, researchers are busy unearthing the cemetery’s past. In 2014, archaeologists began mapping the original cemetery to figure out how many enslaved people were buried beneath its surface. Using drones and other innovative technology, they’ve scanned the earth to reveal its historic secrets. Researchers have found dozens of unmarked burial spots so far and estimate the graveyard may hold the bodies of upwards of 150 enslaved people.

A stone memorial stands nearby to mark the graveyard, surrounded by places to sit. It was erected in 1983 and rises before an archway that leads to the cemetery entrance. Three steps inscribed with the words “faith,” “hope,” and “love” lead to the column.


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Here follows an article written by Joe A. Downer, the Archaeological Field Research Manager at Mount Vernon entitled, "Forgotten No Longer"

On an outcrop of land south of George Washington’s tomb lies the burial ground in which an unknown number of enslaved men, women, and children were laid to rest.

In 2014, archaeologists at Mount Vernon embarked on a multi-year archaeological survey of the site in an effort to learn more about the use of this space. Graves are not being excavated and no human remains are being disturbed. Rather, overlying soils are being excavated down until the top of a grave shaft is visible.

What are the cemetery's boundaries?
How many people are buried here?
How are burials arranged within the cemetery?

Answers to these questions could provide insight into the lives of the enslaved community that lived on Washington's estate, and enable the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association to better protect and preserve this sacred space for generations to come.

Commemoration

The exact dates of the cemetery's use are unknown, though it is believed burials were taking place here in the 18th and 19th centuries.

By the turn of the 20th century, evidence of graves in the burial ground began to disappear. In 1929, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association (MVLA) erected a monument on the site to mark this sacred place. This marker is believed to be the earliest of its kind on a historic plantation.

The cemetery site had become overgrown by the 1980s, and the early memorial was lost amongst unchecked vegetation. Efforts to create a more visible marker culminated in the 1983 Slave Memorial, designed by students of the Howard University School of Architecture, in partnership with Black Women United for Action (BWUFA) and the MVLA.

Who is Buried Here?

Graves in the slave cemetery are unmarked, though we do have the names of a few individuals believed to be buried here, including Frank Lee, the Washington's butler who was present at the funeral of George Washington. Lee was freed according to the stipulations of Washington's will and remained at Mount Vernon until his death in 1821.

Washington's personal body servant throughout the Revolutionary War, William (Billy) Lee, is also believed to be buried in the Slave Cemetery. Like his brother, Frank, William Lee stayed at Mount Vernon after being freed outright in Washington's will, until his death c. 1828. It is believed that the mention of "Washington's favorite servant" in the 1846 Anonymous visitor account is in reference to William Lee.

In 1863, West Ford, a long-time servant of the Washington family, died at Mount Vernon and is thought to be the last individual buried in the cemetery. Ford was freed in 1829 and continued to work at Mount Vernon for the Washington family.

Historical Documents

Though George Washington kept meticulous records detailing the running of his estate, no writings from his lifetime have ever been found that mention the Slave Cemetery. We know through farm managers’ reports that coffins were being constructed for deceased slaves, though where those individuals were buried was not recorded.

It is not until the early to mid-19th century that we find visitor accounts mentioning the burial ground itself.

Only one historic map has been found that identifies the Slave Cemetery. Published by Currier and Ives in 1855, "Plan of Mount Vernon, The Home of Washington" shows 12 graves in the cemetery just southwest of Washington's tomb in a grove of trees. We believe this is merely a stylized representation of the burial ground, rather than a true depiction of the area, as other sources suggest there were at least 100-150 graves in the burial ground by 1855.

Geophysical Research

One goal of this archaeological project is to test the results of a geophysical survey that was conducted on the site in 1985. This early survey used Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) in an effort to find out how many individuals were buried in the cemetery and where graves may be located. GPR in 1985 detected 66 below-ground radar readings.

To date, archaeologists at Mount Vernon have been able to test 27 of these readings, finding that 81 percent correlated with grave shafts found through archaeology. While accurate in this regard, GPR also missed detecting some graves that have since been discovered as a result of this archaeological survey.

Graves

To date, archaeologists have discovered the locations of 46 burials in the Slave Cemetery.

The majority of these burials are organized into six rows running north-south. All burials are oriented east-west, or a close variation thereof.

Sixteen burials appear to be those of children, based on each grave shaft's length and width. Eight of these small burials occur in a single defined row near the western slope of the site. It is unclear if this grouping means that this area of the cemetery was intentionally set aside for children, or if it speaks to an event in which a number of small children passed away around the same time, and were therefore buried next to one another.

In two separate locations in the cemetery, burials are found overlapping one another, and at slightly different orientations. This may suggest that memory of where burials were located among the enslaved community faded over time. As a result, it is possible that later burials were unintentionally placed atop earlier ones.

Artifacts

Only a handful of historic-period artifacts have been recovered in the Slave Cemetery Archaeological Survey. None of these artifacts have been found in direct association with any particular grave shaft.

Prehistoric artifacts have been found throughout the project area in copious amounts, speaking to the Native American presence at Mount Vernon that predates the Washington family tenure. The majority of these artifacts consist of flakes and worked stones, showing us the various stages of stone tool-production that took place on the site.

Moving Forward

Much work remains to be done in the Slave Cemetery before we can understand precisely how many individuals call this spot their final resting place, and where exactly in the burial ground they are located. However, this important project has already taught us much about the use of this space at Mount Vernon.

For years, the burials in the Slave Burial Ground have gone unnumbered. Thanks in part to this archaeological survey, these individuals and their places of burial will be forgotten no longer.

Visit us online to learn more about this important project, and how you can become involved.

Joe A. Downer
Archaeological Field Research Manager
George Washington's Mount Vernon


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax Genealogical Society website:

MOUNT VERNON SLAVE CEMETERY
About 50 yards southwest of the Washington Family Tomb at Mount Vernon
South Alexandria, Virginia USA

Original Information from Volume 5 of the Gravestone Books

“Mount Vernon,” home of George Washington, is located at the end of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, along the Potomac River, south of the City of Alexandria. The house and grounds are open to the public.

The Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery is located about 50 yards southwest of the Washington Family Tomb (q.v.). According to a Mount Vernon brochure about the slave cemetery, the spot is known to have been a burial place for the slaves and free black people who worked on the plantation. There are no records, however, to tell us who these people were or when they were born or died. In 1831, a visitor to Mount Vernon was told that “a hundred people of color” were buried in the slave cemetery. There were no markers at the site when the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association acquired the plantation in 1858.

Washington had perhaps fifty slaves when he began farming at Mount Vernon in 1759, according to the brochure. By 1786, the 2,100-acre estate had grown to 8,000 acres. At that time, Washington compiled a list of the slaves at the plantation. He listed 216 people, of which 105 belonged to him and 111 were part of the estate Martha Custis Washington had inherited from her first husband. Washington prepared another list of Mount Vernon slaves in July 1799, a few months before he died, “in preparation for giving his slaves their freedom under the terms of his will.” He listed 317 people in this census and included ages, occupations and family relationships.

The slaves at Mount Vernon provided almost all of the essential activities to maintain the almost completely self-sufficient estate. “Most of the slaves lived and worked on the outlying farms, where they were engaged in a variety of agricultural tasks.” Perhaps one-third of the slaves who were neither too young nor too old to work were skilled in trades and crafts, including blacksmiths, carpenters, gardeners, shoemakers, painters, brick makers, herdsmen and coachmen. Female slaves worked at the Mansion House Farm as spinners, weavers, seamstresses, cooks, dairy maids and house servants. Slaves working as millers, coopers and distillers operated Washington’s mill and another group of slaves operated his fishing business and river ferry.

In 1929, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association placed a rectangular stone marker at the cemetery site with the following inscription:

In memory
of the
many faithful
colored servants
of the
Washington family
buried at
Mount Vernon
from
1760 to 1860
Their
unidentified graves
surround this spot


Over the years, however, the slave cemetery was forgotten and became overgrown and neglected. In 1982, the Mount Vernon staff “cleared the area, installed two park benches, laid a gravel path and opened the burial site to tourists,” according to a 23 February 1982 article in the Washington Post which reported that over 300 people were buried in the slave cemetery.

That same year, a contest to design a new memorial was conducted with teams from the Howard University School of Architecture and Planning. The winning design included a brick archway and a tree-lined path which leads to a circular memorial. Three rings of stone which stand for faith, hope and love surround a cut-off column, according to articles in the 28 October 1982 Fairfax Journal and 4 November 1982 Washington Post. The formal dedication ceremony on 21 September 1983, attended by Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb and other dignitaries, is described in the November 1983-January 1984 issue of Fairfax Chronicles. The cut-off column bears the following inscription:

In memory of
the Afro Americans
who served as slaves
at Mount Vernon
This monument marking their
burial ground
dedicated September 21, 1983
Mount Vernon Ladies Association


No Updates from Volume 6 of the Gravestone Books