Columbian Harmony Cemetery was an
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
that formerly existed at 9th Street NE and
Rhode Island Avenue
Rhode Island Avenue is a diagonal avenue in the Northwest and Northeast quadrants of Washington, D.C. and the capital's inner suburbs in Prince George's County, Maryland. Paralleling New York Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue was one of the original st ...
NE in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, in the United States. Constructed in 1859, it was the successor to the smaller Harmoneon Cemetery in downtown Washington. All graves in the cemetery were moved to
National Harmony Memorial Park
National Harmony Memorial Park is a private, secular cemetery located at 7101 Sheriff Road in Landover, Maryland, in the United States. Although racially integrated, most of the individuals interred there are African American. In 1960, the 37,000 ...
in
Landover, Maryland
Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 25,998.
Landover is contained between Sheriff Road and Central Avenue to the so ...
, in 1959. The cemetery site was sold to developers, and a portion used for the
Rhode Island Avenue – Brentwood
Rhode Island Avenue (also known as Rhode Island Avenue–Brentwood) is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C. on the Red Line. The station is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Northeast, on an elevated platform crossing Rhode ...
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,[Google Books search/preview ...](_blank)
station.
History
Formation and early years
The Columbian Harmony Society was a
mutual aid society
A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, fraternal benefit order, friendly society, or mutual aid society is a society, an organization or a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief fr ...
formed on November 25, 1825, by free African Americans to aid other black people.
[Richardson, p. 307.] On April 7, 1828, it established the "Harmoneon," a cemetery exclusively for members of the society. This was a cemetery bounded by 5th Street NW, 6th Street NW, S Street NW, and
Boundary Street NW.
Burials began in 1829.
On June 5, 1852, the Council of the City of Washington in the District of Columbia passed a
local ordinance
A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government. such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like.
China
In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () af ...
that barred the creation of new cemeteries anywhere within
Georgetown or within the area bounded by Boundary Street (northwest and northeast), 15th Street (east),
East Capitol Street
East Capitol Street is a major street that divides the northeast and southeast quadrants of Washington, D.C. It runs due east from the United States Capitol to the DC-Maryland border. The street is uninterrupted until Lincoln Park then continues ...
, the
Anacostia River
The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Channel to empty into the Potomac River at Buzzard Point. ...
, the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
, and
Rock Creek. A number of new cemeteries were therefore established in the "rural" areas in and around Washington: Columbian Harmony Cemetery in D.C.;
Gate of Heaven Cemetery
Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, as a Roman Catholic burial site. Among its famous residents is ...
in
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
;
Glenwood Cemetery in D.C.;
Mount Olivet Cemetery in D.C.; and
Woodlawn Cemetery in D.C.
As Harmoneon quickly filled, the society was forced to find new burial grounds. It acquired on July 1, 1857, a tract bounded by Rhode Island Avenue NE, Brentwood Road NE, T Street NE, and the railroad tracks of the
Capital Subdivision
The Capital Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. The line runs from near Baltimore, Maryland, southwest to Washington, D.C., along the former Baltimor ...
of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
. Transferral of graves was completed in 1859. It sold the old Harmoneon site for $4,000. An tract adjacent to the Columbian Harmony Cemetery was purchased in the summer of 1886. From the early 1880s to the 1920s, Columbian Harmony Cemetery was the most active black cemetery in Washington, with 21.8 percent of all African-American burials occurring there. It never ranked lower than fourth in total African-American burials, and between 1892 and 1919 it was number one in every year but one. In 1895 alone, one-third of Washington's blacks were buried there. Columbian Harmony was one of the "big five" of black cemeteries in the District of Columbia. By 1900 landscaping and roads were added throughout the cemetery. A chapel was built in 1899, and a caretaker's lodge in 1912.
Management troubles
Columbian Harmony Cemetery was filling so rapidly that its owners considered purchasing a new cemetery outside the District of Columbia. By 1901, it held 10,000 graves. In 1929, the society purchased near
Landover, Maryland
Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 25,998.
Landover is contained between Sheriff Road and Central Avenue to the so ...
, for $18,000. Some of the owners of existing burial plots sued in 1949 to prevent relocation of graves. Although some burials took place at the new cemetery, no grave relocations took place. In 1950, the society stopped new burials at Columbian Harmony Cemetery. By this time, at least 400 African American veterans, nearly all of them former
United States Colored Troops
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...
, were buried there.
In 1953, the society relocated the few graves at Huntsville to a nearby cemetery and sold its property for $178,000 to a real estate development company.
[Sluby and Wormley, p. 39.]
The lack of new burials left the cemetery in a difficult financial situation. The cemetery was experiencing an annual loss of $3,000 a year.
Closure and relocation of graves
In 1957, real-estate investor Louis N. Bell offered to buy Columbian Harmony Cemetery. Bell informed the society that he would expand his Forest Lawn Cemetery (which was near the society's former property in Landover) by . He offered the society a 25 percent stake in the new cemetery and to pay all relocation costs in exchange for the property in D.C. Although the society rejected this offer, negotiations continued. Bell eventually agreed to also establish a perpetual care fund, designate a section of the cemetery as the "Harmony Section", and allowed the society to appoint half the board of the new cemetery association.
Beginning in May 1960, approximately 37,000 graves were moved to
National Harmony Memorial Park
National Harmony Memorial Park is a private, secular cemetery located at 7101 Sheriff Road in Landover, Maryland, in the United States. Although racially integrated, most of the individuals interred there are African American. In 1960, the 37,000 ...
. The
District of Columbia Department of Health
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
had to draft and win approval of a whole new set of regulations to govern the mass relocation. A D.C. district court agreed to issue a single exhumation order, rather than review thousands of cases. All the heirs of those buried at Columbia Harmony Cemetery were contacted and their permission to move the graves secured. More than 100 workers exhumed, recrated in new coffins, moved, and reburied the dead. The re-interments were completed on November 17, 1960. It was the largest cemetery move in the nation's capital, and cost $1 million.
However, to move 37,000 graves between May and November 1960 means that hundreds were moved every day, and there was no time to "recrate them in new coffins", even had 37,000 coffins been available. Many were reburied in a mass grave. Unfortunately, the relocation agreement did not cover the existing memorials and monuments, which would have required identifying remains, moving the markers, and burying each body with its corresponding marker, if any (making a mass grave impossible). This would have taken much more time. According to the
Maryland Historical Trust
The Maryland Historical Trust is an agency of Maryland Department of Planning and serves as the Maryland State Historic Preservation Office. The agency serves to assist in research, conservation, and education, of Maryland's historical and cultural ...
, none of the original grave markers were retained.
Furthermore, most of the remains at Columbian Harmony Cemetery were transferred and reburied without identifying which person was being reburied.
["Harmony Memorial Park." Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties Form. Maryland Historical Trust. Maryland Department of Planning. March 9, 2009. Capsule Summary, p. 72-045.](_blank)
Accessed October 28, 2012. The headstones were sold as scrap and used to secure the riverbank of the Stuart Plantation, a 1400 acre conservation easement site on the banks of the
Potomac in
King George County, Virginia. In 2016 the property was bought by Virginia State Senator
Richard Stuart, a descendant of the original owners, who discovered the grave markers and sought the help of Virginia Gov.
Ralph Northam
Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf").
The most common forms ...
in recovering them. A nonprofit organization will reclaim as many of the headstones as possible and send them to National Harmony, and related memorial markers will be placed in both Maryland and Virginia.
It brought to light a historic injustice in D.C.
When the
Rhode Island Avenue – Brentwood
Rhode Island Avenue (also known as Rhode Island Avenue–Brentwood) is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C. on the Red Line. The station is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Northeast, on an elevated platform crossing Rhode ...
Metro station was constructed in 1976, workers discovered that not all the bodies had been exhumed. At least five coffins were unearthed, and numerous bones.
A plaque was affixed to a column near one of the station's entrances to commemorate the former cemetery. When a parking lot at the site was renovated in 1979, more bones and bits of cloth and coffins were unearthed.
Headstone controversy
![Harmony Cemetery Project - 51398086651](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Harmony_Cemetery_Project_-_51398086651.jpg)
The relocation agreement did not cover the existing memorials and monuments. According to the
Maryland Historical Trust
The Maryland Historical Trust is an agency of Maryland Department of Planning and serves as the Maryland State Historic Preservation Office. The agency serves to assist in research, conservation, and education, of Maryland's historical and cultural ...
, none of the original grave markers were retained.
Furthermore, most of the remains at Columbian Harmony Cemetery were transferred and reburied without identifying which person was being reburied.
["Harmony Memorial Park." Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties Form. Maryland Historical Trust. Maryland Department of Planning. March 9, 2009. Item 8, p. 4.](_blank)
Accessed October 28, 2012. Grave markers were sold as scrap.
The fate of many of the original markers remained a mystery for almost a half-century. In 2009, hikers found a large number of headstones in the
riprap
Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...
lining the banks of the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
, on privately owned land near
Caledon State Park in
King George County, Virginia. Virginia State Senator
Richard Stuart, who bought the land in 2016, enlisted Virginia historians to trace the origin of the headstones; they were determined to have come from Columbian Harmony. Because the headstones were adjacent to the state park, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation could only turn them over to a nonprofit. With the assistance of Virginia Governor
Ralph Northam
Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf").
The most common forms ...
, an agreement was signed by the state of Virginia, state of Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the History, Arts, and Science Action Network (HASAN; a nonprofit based in
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...
. The grave markers will be turned over to the nonprofit, and National Harmony has agreed to allow the nonprofit to place them on the appropriate graves at the cemetery. The two organizations are also working to create a memorial garden inside the main gate of the cemetery. Stuart said he will work to create a parklike memorial along the Potomac to recognize any headstones that cannot be reclaimed. The government of the District of Columbia said it will assist in researching the history of those buried at Columbian Harmony.
Notable interments
A number of nationally and locally important African Americans were buried at Columbian Harmony Cemetery. Among them was the first African-American D.C. firefighter (whose name was not known) to die in the line of duty. Other notable interments included:
*
Lucy Addison (1861–1937), educator
* Sandy Alexander (1818–1902), co-founder, First Baptist Church of Washington
*
Osborne Perry Anderson
Osborne Perry Anderson (July 27, 1830 – December 11, 1872) was an African-American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and the only surviving African-American member of John Brown (abolitionist), John Brown's John Brown's Raid on Har ...
(1830–1871), only surviving African-American member of
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. Grave site unknown.
* George Bell (1761–1843), co-founder of the first African-American school in Washington, D.C.
* George Brown (?–1897), the "Black
Sousa" who led the Capital City Band
*
Solomon G. Brown (1829–1906), first African-American employee at the Smithsonian Institution.
*
John F. Cook Jr. (1833–1910), a prominent businessman and Howard University trustee from one of Washington D.C.'s most wealthy nineteenth century African-American families
*
Helen Appo Cook
Helen Appo Cook (July 21, 1837 – November 20, 1913) was a wealthy, prominent African-American community activist in Washington, D.C. and a leader in the women's club movement. Cook was a founder and president of the Colored Women's League ...
(1837–1913), founder of the Colored Women's League of Washington, D.C. and noted women's club leaders
*
Henrietta Vinton Davis
Henrietta Vinton Davis (August 25, 1860 – November 23, 1941) was an African-American elocutionist, dramatist, and impersonator. In addition to being "the premier actor of all nineteenth-century black performers on the dramatic stage", Davis ...
, (1860–1941) actress, elocutionist, dramatist, impersonator and high-ranking member of the
*
Sherman H. Dudley
Sherman Houston Dudley (1872 – March 1, 1940) was an African-American vaudeville performer and theatre entrepreneur. He gained notability in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as an individual performer, a composer of ragtime songs, ...
(1872 – 1940) African-American vaudeville performer and theatre entrepreneur.
*
Christian Fleetwood
Christian Abraham Fleetwood (July 21, 1840 – September 28, 1914), was an African American non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, a commissioned officer in the District of Columbia Army National Guard, D.C. National Guard, an editor ...
(1840–1914),
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
recipient
*
William Henry Harrison Hart
William Henry Harrison Hart (October 30, 1857 – January 6, 1934) was an List of African-American jurists, African American attorney and Professor of Criminal Law at Howard University from 1887 to 1922. He won an important legal case, ''Hart v. ...
(1857–1934), co-founder of the
Niagara Movement
The Niagara Movement (NM) was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of activists—many of whom were among the vanguard of African-American lawyers in the United States—led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. ...
(predecessor of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
*
Thomas R. Hawkins
Thomas R. Hawkins (c. 1840 – February 28, 1870) was an African American, African-American Union Army soldier during the American Civil War and a recipient of America's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions at th ...
(1840–1870), Medal of Honor recipient
*
Emanuel D. Molyneaux Hewlett (1850–1929), civil rights activist and Washington, DC's first African American justice of the peace.
*
Paul Jennings (1799–1874), former slave, personal servant to
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
, antislavery activist, author
*
Henry Lincoln Johnson
Henry Lincoln "Linc" Johnson (July 27, 1870 – September 10, 1925) was an American attorney and politician from the state of Georgia. He is best remembered as one of the most prominent African-American Republicans of the first two decades of t ...
(1871–1925),
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
man from
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
* Robert Johnson (1870–1903), pastor,
Metropolitan Baptist Church
*
Elizabeth Keckley
Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (February 1818 – May 1907) was an American seamstress, activist, and writer who lived in Washington, D.C. She was best known as the personal dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln.
Born into slavery, she was ow ...
(1818–1907), former slave, seamstress to
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, civic activist, and author
*
Robert Pelham Jr. (1859–1943), journalist and federal government employee
*
Philip Reid
Philip Reed also Philip Reid (''c.'' 1820 – February 6, 1892) was an African American master craftsman who worked at the foundries of self-taught sculptor Clark Mills (sculptor), Clark Mills, where historical monuments such as the 1853 ''Eque ...
( 1820–1892), foundryman who oversaw the casting of the
Statue of Freedom
*
Mary Ann Shadd
Mary Ann Camberton Shadd Cary (October 9, 1823 – June 5, 1893) was an American-Canadian anti-slavery activist, journalist, publisher, teacher, and lawyer. She was the first black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher i ...
(1823–1893), anti-slavery activist, first black woman publisher in North America, first woman publisher in Canada
*
William Syphax
William Syphax ( 1825 — June 15, 1891) was born into slavery but manumitted when he was about one year old, along with his mother Maria Carter Syphax and sister. As a young man, he became a U.S. government civil servant in Republican administ ...
(1825-1891), first President of the Board of Trustees of Colored Schools of Washington and Georgetown
*
Robert Heberton Terrell
Robert Heberton Terrell (November 27, 1857 – December 20, 1925) was an attorney and the second African American to serve as a justice of the peace in Washington, DC. In 1911 he was appointed as a judge to the District of Columbia Municipal Co ...
(1857–1925), second African-American judge in Washington, D.C.
* William W. Whipps (?–1940), Black pharmacist and co-founder of the Washington Association of Colored Druggists
*
James Wormley
James Wormley (January 16, 1819 – October 18, 1884) was the owner and operator of the Wormley Hotel, which opened in Washington D.C. in 1869 which was preceded by his boarding houses on I St. beginning in 1855. He was reported in 1865 to have be ...
(1819–1884), owner of the Wormley Hotel, and only African-American present when Abraham Lincoln died
["Funeral of the Late James Wormley." ''The Washington Post.'' October 21, 1884.]
References
Bibliography
* Richardson, Steven J. "The Burial Grounds of Black Washington: 1880–1919." ''Records of the Columbia Historical Society.'' 52 (1989), pp. 304–326.
* Savage, Beth L. and Shull, Carol D. ''African American Historic Places.'' Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press, 1994.
* Sluby Sr. Paul E. and Wormley, Stanton Lawrence. ''History of the Columbian Harmony Society and of Harmony Cemetery, Washington, D.C.'' Rev ed. Washington, D.C.: The Society, 2001.
*
For further reading
* "Sluby, Paul E., Sr." (2018)
''"The Columbian Harmony Society: A Brief History"''Manuscripts, Publications and Other Written Work.
{{Authority control
Former cemeteries in Washington, D.C.
1859 establishments in Washington, D.C.
1960 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.
African-American history of Washington, D.C.
History of Washington, D.C.