Tucked away in an obscure corner of Halfway, outside of Hagerstown, an overgrown half-acre is all that remains of what was once a sprawling burial ground for Hagerstown’s African American community. Most of the “Halfway Colored Cemetery,” as it was known in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, lies under the surrounding houses and gardens. A few surviving gravestones can be seen in people’s yards, and half a dozen still stand in the small preserve of the cemetery.
In the course of several years’ research, I’ve found the names of nearly a hundred people buried at Halfway. The earliest of them is Jesse Guynn, who was buried in 1844 from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Hagerstown, where he and his family were members. The cemetery surely pre-dated his burial, though. Its origins are unknown so far; the land passed through various (white) hands during the nineteenth century, as burials continued. Then, in 1897, a black fraternal order in Hagerstown, the Independent Order of the Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria, purchased the existing Halfway Colored Cemetery and surrounding land, a total of seven acres, and officially incorporated the cemetery.
The Good Samaritans were mostly members of Ebenezer A.M.E. Church (also known as Bethel) in Hagerstown, whose cemetery on Bethel Street was full and had been closed in 1893. The Halfway Cemetery became the replacement for the old Bethel burial ground, which was no longer in use. In 1899, some of the bodies from Bethel Street were actually moved to Halfway. In the early twentieth century, many African Americans in Hagerstown chose to have their loved ones buried at Rose Hill Cemetery, in town, but many continued the older tradition of burial at Halfway. (There were also other burial sites for blacks throughout the county.) Not only Ebenezer, but also Asbury and other black churches in Hagerstown, buried members at Halfway.
At least seven Civil War veterans are interred at Halfway: William Bell, Benjamin Brooks, Henry W. Dorsey, John W. Dorsey, Oliver Hicks, James C. House, and Perry Moxley. Perry Moxley was one of the Good Samaritans, a trustee of Ebenezer Church, and famously a member of Moxley’s Band, the Hagerstown musical group that enlisted together in 1863 to form the First Brigade Band of the United States Colored Troops. His wife Sarah and son Perry are also buried here. Halfway is also the resting place of World War I veteran Irwin Sullivan, whose story I’ve told in another blog post.
The Halfway African American Cemetery helps tell the story of Hagerstown’s free black population before the Civil War, through Reconstruction, and well into the twentieth century. For example, Bernard Nelson Simms, buried here in 1903, had worked for fifteen years as a Pullman car porter. Pullman porters held a prestigious position in the African American community and were important in black history, forming the first all-black union and helping build the black middle class.
The last known burials at Halfway were in 1932, though the cemetery may well have continued in use after that. Records from the 1930s show that the cemetery then had about approximately fifty gravestones and an estimated 355 unmarked graves. In the 1950s, most of the cemetery was sold off to a developer, and houses were built on the land. Only a small piece, less than an acre, was preserved as cemetery. It is completely overgrown and is not accessible or easily visible from any street.
Cleanup: Efforts are currently underway to clean up and preserve the remaining part of the cemetery. On a cleanup day in early March 2020, more than forty volunteers cleared underbrush and fallen trees. Antietam Tree generously donated labor and the use of a chipper, and archaeologists from Hood College guided some of the work. Local Scouts and the Antietam Chapter of the DAR were also major contributors. Before the cleanup, only four gravestones remained in the cemetery proper; volunteers found several more during the cleanup, including those of Perry Moxley and his son. COVID-19 has temporarily derailed our plans to continue working on cleanup and restoration, but in time we hope the cemetery will become a park-like setting that can be visited and enjoyed, and a fitting memorial to Hagerstown’s historic African American community.
Location: The cemetery was formerly located immediately behind the newer Jewish cemetery (known as the Hebrew Cemetery or the B’nai Abraham Cemetery) on Virginia Avenue in Halfway, just southwest of Hagerstown. The Jewish and African-American cemeteries may have been adjacent to each other. However, the Jewish cemetery is still visible from the street and is still tended. The remaining portion of the Halfway African-American Cemetery does not touch the Jewish cemetery. The remaining portion of the African-American cemetery is located in a residential block bounded by Lincolnshire Road, Clinton Avenue, Rosewood Avenue, and Gay Street. It does not touch any street. There is access through several of the nearby yards with permission.
Contacts: For access to the cemetery site, or to talk about plans to preserve the cemetery, please contact Elizabeth Paul, eapaul@myactv.net. To talk about the history of the cemetery and people buried there, please contact me, Emilie Amt, via the form below.
(Please be warned that there is false information online at Find-a-Grave, linking the Halfway Cemetery to the family of Harriet Tubman; this information is not true.)
Sources:
Don Brown Cemetery Files, Western Maryland Room, Washington County Free Library, Hagerstown, MD.
Hagerstown newspapers, 1890s-1930s.
Samuel W. Piper, Washington County, Maryland, Cemetery Records (Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1992-94), vol. VI.
Great to see this. Thanks for putting this out there. Good, concise summary that is very readable. I was happy to be able to participate in the initial clean-up.
Thank you for helping! It was a great day, and your work was truly appreciated.
Awesome work , glad researcher continue to be deligent.
This is important work. Thank you.
Terrifically valuable and exciting research; I hope the clean-up can resume before Maryland’s exuberant foliage gets to work.
Thank you for posting this article!
I am so glad that the people who are buried there are being remembered and that the cemetery will be a place of peace and reflection.
Thank you
“Hagerstown’s free black population before the Civil War…” do you have any information about the city/county’s pre-civil war free black population, or could you point me in the right direction to learn more? My great grandfather had just arrived from Germany in 1856, and I’ve often wondered what he experienced in those years right before the Civil War broke out.
Meanwhile, very interesting piece of history.
Thank you! This is such a good (and big) question. Very little has been written about the free black population before the Civil War, but I think you’ll find more about the German immigrants. Normally I’d suggest starting at the Western Maryland Room at the Hagerstown Library, but of course right now the libraries are all closed… One book that might cover a lot of bases for you is Too Afraid Too Cry: Maryland Civilians in the Antietam Campaign, by Kathleen A. Ernst. The early chapters cover the experience of all civilians, black and white, and the book is well researched and very readable. If you want to delve into primary sources, I’d suggest historic newspapers, which often give interesting slices of life–but for those you need either a database subscription (like Newspapers.com) or an open library (for microfilm access). For the local free black community before the Civil War, one excellent primary source is the Rev. Thomas Henry’s autobiography, which available to read for free online. It’s a bit chaotic to read, but very rich in anecdote and atmosphere. And once you start doing local/family history, you’ll keep finding more sources, plenty of which are online.
What a great article to know about Hagerstown. Thank you for sharing the information. If you need more help with clean up. Please let us know
Thank you–we’ve put you on the contact list!
Very good information Thank you and may God Bless you
Thank you!
I grew up in Hagerstown and did not know anything about this cemetery and so I found this information enlightening. I have recently returned to this area after living away for the past 40 years. Please put me on your contact list for help in clearing the foliage to restore this sacred place.
Thank you–we’ve added you to the cemetery volunteer list!
Emilie, thanks for researching and publishing this topic. I’m a descendent of one of the Catholics who landed at St. Clements, MD in 1634. So, research and accuracy are very important to me. Keep up the great work.
Thank you!
This is a good article, with details that I was not familiar with. One comment, the street Rosewood is Rosewood Drive, not Ave. My family had this street developed starting in late 1951 finishing in Winter 1952. There was a fence along the side of the cemetery on the Rosewood side. I do not remember any part of the cemetery being on the property subdivided for Rosewood Drive. This property was behind the main house belonging to James Ridenour on Virginia Ave and contained an apple orchard. Lincolnshire Road and Clinton Ave. were pretty well built up at that time. I don’t remember much about the Gay Street side, as I didn’t have much reason to travel there at that time.
If part of the cemetery was sold by the owners to a developer, this must have been before 1950, to the developer(s) of Clinton and part of Lincolnshire Road. The houses on Lincolnshire between Clinton and the northern end were all of similar frame construction. I don’t remember any brick homes in that section. The homes from Clinton to Lincoln Ave were of various individual designs, indicating they were built by their owners. I do remember my neighbor across the street allowing access to the cemetery several times. These folks are all deceased. I will put these comments on the Hagerstown and Western Md Facebook page, in reply to several commenters.
I am a member of Find A Grave and use it extensively for my own genealogy research. I can’t figure out why anyone would have posted inaccurate information on the Tubman family. When posting online records, integrity is everything. I submitted a correction request today for Harriet’s mother at Find-A-Grave. I hope they choose to correct the inaccuracies. I really enjoyed reading about the history of the cemetery. If not for your post, I would have never known it existed. Thank you for your dedication.
Thank you for your comments! I use Find A Grave too, and have also found it very helpful, so I was baffled too by the inaccurate info (about HT’s husband as well). I submitted a correct several months ago, but I’m not familiar with the inner workings of Find A Grave, so hopefully you’ll have more success!
could you please add me to the list of volunteers for the next clean up? thank you.
Will do! Thank you!
I’m struggling with this. Attended Lincolnshire 6 years starting in 1955. Many friends lived within a hundred yards of The school. Probably played in basements that displaced graves. Glad we’re recognizing the area’s history. At the time we bused every Black kid in the county to north street School. Held black face minstrel nights in Lincolnshire auditorium. We built our houses and school on a graveyard ( but not the Hebrew one). contemporaneously we didn’t give it a thought but today I’m ashamed.