Locust Grove Cemetery
A historic African-American burial ground that embodies a community's commitment
Beginning in the Spring of 2003, professor Steven B. Burg and Shippensburg University's Applied History Program students became part of a movement dedicated to preserving Locust Grove Cemetery, a two-hundred-year-old African-American burial ground, from vandalism, physical alteration, weathering and the bleak and sinister picture painted by the community in a borough with a rich history of segregation and racial discrimination. By 2005, a coalition led by the Locust Grove Cemetery Committee, Shippensburg Historical Society, and Shippensburg University's history department had restored the cemetery and by 2007 had dedicated a historic marker to serve as a reminder to the public the extraordinary history reflected in the cemetery and the lives buried there.
The first mention of Locust Grove Cemetery was on a hand-drawn survey of Shippensburg circa 1790-1800, which was utilized by the Shippen-Burd family to record their landholdings. The parcel of land was labeled "Negro Graveyard". Between 1813 and 1826 Joesph Burd, third generation proprietor of Shippensburg, sold three-quarters of the land to Dr. John Simpson. Before 1834, however, Joseph Burd rented African-American residents an empty square lot between the cemetery and North Queen Street. It was here that Shippensburg's first independent African-American church was built.
Earliest recognition of the Locust Grove Cemetery titled "Negro Graveyard". Circa 1800. Courtesy of Shippensburg Historical Society.
“Afn Church & GraveYd” located by the arrow depicts the drastically reduced lot, as a result of Joseph Burd selling three-quarters of the land to Dr. John Simpson. The black square represents the placement of the A.M.E Church. Circa 1858. From F.W. Beers Company, Atlas of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. (Philadelphia, Pa.: Wagner and McGuigan, 1858). Courtesy of Shippensburg Historical Society.
