I just spent a wonderful evening (3/15/2000) with the students of Ms. Samples,
Ms. Campbell, Ms. Hicks and Ms. Seybold's 3rd and 4th grade classes at S.
Ellen Jones Elementary School in New Albany, Indiana.
The students have undertaken a project to restore the "Old Colored People's
Cemetery" off Paoli Pike in New Albany, Floyd Co., IN. [That is the name on
the deed to the property.]
This long-neglected site is the burial place for as many as 300 people of
color, buried here between 1854 and 1915. To date, nine stones have been
found (5 field stones with markings and 4 legible headstones). Because of the
size of this site and the early stage of the cemetery clean-up, I suspect a
lot more stones and markers will be found in the coming weeks.
The understanding I came away with is that a good number of slaves who escaped
from the South via the Underground Railroad are believed to be buried here,
having succumbed to injuries and illnesses sustained as they fled the South
during the Civil War. The cemetery is only a couple of miles from the banks
of the Ohio River. Further, a large number of Southern Indiana's black
pioneers are also believed to be buried here.
The students have approached this undertaking with a variety of disciplines.
Some are researching the history of the black community, some are working on
chiseling numerical markers from limestone blocks with which to mark the
unmarked graves, some are working on "public relations" and drumming up
community support for the project, others are working with the Township
Trustee who is also utilizing Community Service workers to do some of the
labor, etc.
The students are selling necklaces made from limestone chips (a by-product of
the numerical marker project) to raise money to make more markers.
At the meeting tonight, the community was invited to provide input and offer
suggestions for renaming the cemetery. The children at S. Ellen Jones
Elementary School do not like the "official" name that's on the deed
records.
The final decision will be the children's, but from talking with the other
adults there, the "front-runner" might be "Freedom Cemetery" -- a
particularly
apt name considering some of the people buried here first tasted freedom upon
reaching the northern shore of the nearby Ohio River.
A workday at the cemetery is planned for SATURDAY, MAY 13, at 10:00 A.M.
Anyone interested in helping to rediscover the lost history of Floyd County's
early Black community can contact me or:
Ms. Samples
c/o S. Ellen Jones Elementary
600 E. Eleventh Street
New Albany, IN 47150
812-949-4306
Ms. Samples has promised to have the classes write up a summary of what
they've done and provide me with before/during/after photos with which I will
put together a webpage for them.
I'll keep you posted as more information becomes available.
Lois
=================
Clark County Cemetery Preservation Committee --
Next meeting: Saturday, April 1, 2000, at Charlestown Library
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5881
Clark County GENWEB Project:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inclark
Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp