Burial Grounds and Cemeteries

Interest in securing the legacy of Black burial grounds skyrocketed following the 1991 discovery of more than 400 bodies of free and enslaved Americans of African heritage underneath a plot of land in Lower Manhattan. Following a great deal of activist and community interest, the United States Government designated the land a National Historic Landmark, and a monumental memorial has since been constructed over the reinterred remains, and an adjoining visitor center hosts a permanent exhibit detailing the history of Slavery in early New York. As Slavery was an institution practiced across the early American landscape, there are a great number of similar sites located wherever people saw fit to settle permanently. Ulster County is no exception.

Examples of burial grounds for people of African descent in Ulster County vary broadly in character. At the New Paltz Rural Cemetery, a section was established in 1864 used specifically for interring those of African American heritage, many of whom were involved in the local A.M.E. Zion congregation. The Mount Zion Cemetery in Kingston, which also served a local A.M.E. congregation, holds the remains of numerous members of the Colored Troops Regiment during the Civil War. A rededication ceremony was held at this cemetery in 2011, but the land has since fallen into disrepair. The 1990 discovery of human remains under a house in Kingston spurred community members into action, and much effort and attention has been given in the continuing project of revitalization at the Pine Street African Burial Ground. Elsewhere, there are burial plots located on private property, which mostly remain un-commemorated. In cataloging the known burial sites of Ulster County’s early Black residents, we hope to aid in a broader project of reconciliation, as these sites offer great potential in the mending of long-broken historical links for the descendants of those held in bondage in Ulster County.