At least 32 graves of slaves found in Black section of historic City Cemetery

At least 32 graves of former slaves who were buried in the oldest section of Lexington City Cemetery have been discovered in a survey of a small part of the burial grounds with ground-penetrating radar.

Results of the survey that took place this past June was presented to the city council during Monday night’s meeting, along with some recommendations on what to do next.

The survey, which included a review of about one-tenth of an acre, was funded by the National Park Service under a federal Historic Preservation Fund Certified Local Government grant administered by the state Office of State Archaeology and the state’s Historic Preservation Office. The cemetery is part of the Lexington Residential Historic District that was established in 2007.

Mayor Jason Hayes recognized Tyrone Terry as a driving force behind the survey, and Terry himself describes how honoring those buried there became so important to him.

When he was much younger, Terry said an older Black gentleman told him that there was a slave cemetery in one small portion of the larger graveyard, but he said he was young and didn’t think much about it. But when he moved back to Lexington as an adult after living in Atlanta, he was passing the lower part of the cemetery one day and on a whim, he spent about 20 minutes searching for any indication of markers, to no avail.

The next day, “I was passing, I had no intentions of searching that day, but I just had a weird feeling, so I turned around,” he said. He went by the State Street entrance, and eventually saw “stones different from all the others, and I was stunned…shed a few tears thinking of the indignity done to my ancestors.” He initially met with a group of Black ministers to seek their guidance, and several years ago, an annual memorial service was established and is held each February.

But he will wanted to find out how many burial sites could be there, and to better memorialize those laid to rest there.

One of the city’s planners, Rebecca Hart, said it was the participation of the community, especially Terry, that prompted the city to take a closer look at the approximately 3,800 square feet of land with just one large marker. Through the grant, the city was able to hire Richard Grubb and Associates to conduct the actual survey.

In its report on the survey, the company states “The African American section is in the oldest portion of the cemetery and consists of a mostly vacant space with four grave markers and a rough stone pyramid marker which indicates that enslaved people were interred there prior to the Civil War.”

The survey found “32 potential unmarked burials in the survey area through post-fieldwork data processing. Of these, 18 were identified as probable burial anomalies and 14 were identified as possible burial anomalies.” Council member Garret Holloway asked survey presenter Cayla Cannon if that was possible that not all internments had been located, and Cannon said yes, and explained why.

Several of the burials detected appear larger than a normal burial site, which could indicate more than one person buried in a single plot or two plots extremely close together. Each of those was only counted once. In addition, Cannon noted that it “takes a body about 100 years to break down, and these graves are older than that,” so some deterioration could have reached a level as to be undetectable.

The research that lead up to the actual ground survey also presented its own set of challenges. This portion of the cemetery has few, if any, records of the actual burials, and some occurred at a time when Lexington was still a part of Rowan County, meaning some records are still located there.

Of particular note was a description of this portion of the cemetery, as well as a few other sections, as “promiscuous.”

Cannon explained that some had been alarmed because current day definition of the word attaches to loose morals, but in truth, the original definition of the word is simply “indeterminate,” or undefined, meaning the particular plot is not restricted to whites only, or family only. It also is why the company recommended the city investigate the other areas of the cemetery described as “promiscuous” as they may also contain slave graves.

Other recommendations included maintaining the grave sites as they are. It was acknowledged that because of the age of the cemetery, excavation is the only way to fully determine all the burials, but that would cause so much destruction it would appear untenable.

Cannon noted the city might “consider updating the memorial to enslaved persons in this section or adding signage to contextualize both this section of the cemetery and the language of the marker itself, as well as any other pertinent information that the city of Lexington and the community wish to include. RGA recommends any actions in this regard be completed in consultation with SHPO, OSA, the descendant community, and any other interested parties.” She said her organization encouraged the city to consult “with the larger descendant community and other interested parties… with respect to the content and placement of any additional interpretive signage and monuments, and installation of any landscape features such as fencing, commemorative plantings, or new paths.”

“I would like to thank all of the community stake holders who have advocated for awareness, education and most importantly, the appropriate memorialization of this African American section of the City Cemetery,” said Hayes. “It has taken some time for us to get to this point, but I am very proud of the city’s response, especially the work of (Rebecca) Hart. I am really looking forward to the next steps.” He noted that some sort of marker or memorial “would be appropriate” and that he believed the city would get behind such an action. Another next step, according to Hart, will be updating the National Registry with this new historic district information for the city.