Columbian Harmony Cemetery facts for kids

Columbian Harmony Cemetery was a very important cemetery for African Americans in Washington, D.C.. It was located at 9th Street NE and Rhode Island Avenue NE. The cemetery opened in 1859. It took the place of a smaller cemetery called Harmoneon.

In 1959, all the graves from Columbian Harmony Cemetery were moved. They went to a new place called National Harmony Memorial Park in Landover, Maryland. The land where the cemetery used to be was then sold. Part of it is now the Rhode Island Avenue – Brentwood Washington Metro station.

A Place for the Community

How it Started

The Columbian Harmony Society was a special group. It was a "mutual aid society," which means people helped each other. Free African Americans started it on November 25, 1825. They wanted to help other black people in their community.

On April 7, 1828, this group created a cemetery just for its members. It was called "Harmoneon." This first cemetery was about 1.3 acres big. People started to be buried there in 1829.

Finding a New Home

By 1852, the city of Washington, D.C., made a rule. New cemeteries could not be built in the city center. This meant new cemeteries had to be built outside the main city area. Several new cemeteries were created, including Columbian Harmony Cemetery.

The Harmoneon cemetery quickly became full. So, the society needed a new, bigger place. On July 1, 1857, they bought 17 acres of land. This new land was where Columbian Harmony Cemetery would be. All the graves from Harmoneon were moved to the new site by 1859. The old Harmoneon land was then sold.

Later, in 1886, another 18 acres were added to the cemetery. From the 1880s to the 1920s, Columbian Harmony Cemetery was the busiest black cemetery in Washington. Many African Americans were buried there. It was one of the "big five" black cemeteries in D.C. By 1900, the cemetery had nice landscaping and roads. A chapel was built in 1899, and a caretaker's house in 1912.

Moving the Cemetery

Why the Graves Were Moved

Columbian Harmony Cemetery was filling up fast. By 1901, it had 10,000 graves. The owners thought about buying a new cemetery outside D.C. In 1929, they bought 44.75 acres near Landover, Maryland.

In 1950, the society stopped new burials at Columbian Harmony Cemetery. By this time, at least 400 African American veterans were buried there. Most of them had served in the United States Colored Troops. The cemetery then faced money problems because no new burials meant less income.

The Big Move

In 1957, a real estate investor named Louis N. Bell wanted to buy the cemetery land. He offered to move the graves to a new, larger cemetery he owned. This new cemetery was called Forest Lawn Cemetery.

After some talks, they agreed. Bell would create a special "Harmony Section" of 30 acres at the new cemetery. He would also pay for all the costs of moving the graves.

Starting in May 1960, about 37,000 graves were moved. They went to the new National Harmony Memorial Park. This was a huge task. The city had to create new rules for such a big move. A court also agreed to one order to move all the graves, instead of thousands of separate ones.

Workers carefully moved the remains. The re-burials were finished on November 17, 1960. This was the largest cemetery move in Washington, D.C.'s history. It cost $1 million.

What Happened to the Markers?

Moving so many graves so quickly meant hundreds were moved every day. It was not possible to put each person into a new coffin. Many were reburied together. Sadly, the agreement did not include moving the old grave markers and monuments. This would have taken much more time.

Because of this, most of the original grave markers were not kept. Also, many remains were moved without knowing exactly who was who. The old headstones were sold and used to secure a riverbank in King George County, Virginia.

In 2016, a state senator bought the land where the headstones were. He found the old grave markers. This discovery brought attention to a past injustice in D.C. Now, a group is working to get as many headstones back as possible. They plan to send them to National Harmony Memorial Park. New markers will also be placed in both Maryland and Virginia.

Discoveries Later On

When the Rhode Island Avenue – Brentwood Metro station was built in 1976, workers found something unexpected. Not all the bodies had been moved. They found at least five coffins and many bones. A special plaque was placed at the station to remember the cemetery. In 1979, when a parking lot was fixed up, more bones and pieces of cloth and coffins were found.

Important People Buried Here

Many important African Americans were buried at Columbian Harmony Cemetery. These people made a big difference in their communities and the country. Here are some of them:

• Lucy Addison (1861–1937), a teacher.
• Sandy Alexander (1818–1902), who helped start the First Baptist Church of Washington.
• Osborne Perry Anderson (1830–1871), the only African-American who survived John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. His grave site is not known.
• George Bell (1761–1843), who helped start the first African-American school in Washington, D.C.
• George Brown (?–1897), known as the "Black Sousa," who led the Capital City Band.
• Solomon G. Brown (1829–1906), the first African-American employee at the Smithsonian Institution.
• John F. Cook Jr. (1833–1910), a successful businessman and trustee at Howard University.
• Helen Appo Cook (1837–1913), who started the Colored Women's League of Washington, D.C.
• Henrietta Vinton Davis (1860–1941), an actress and important member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.
• Sherman H. Dudley (1872–1940), an African-American performer and theater owner.
• Christian Abraham Fleetwood (1840–1914), a brave soldier who received the Medal of Honor.
• William Henry Harrison Hart (1857–1934), who helped start the Niagara Movement. This group was a step toward the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
• Thomas R. Hawkins (1840–1870), another soldier who received the Medal of Honor.
• Emanuel D. Molyneaux Hewlett (1850–1929), a civil rights activist and Washington, D.C.'s first African American justice of the peace.
• Paul Jennings (1799–1874), a former slave who worked for James Madison. He was an anti-slavery activist and author.
• Henry Lincoln Johnson (1871–1925), a Republican leader from Georgia.
• Robert Johnson (1870–1903), a pastor at Metropolitan Baptist Church.
• Elizabeth Keckley (1818–1907), a former slave who became a seamstress for Abraham Lincoln. She was also a civic activist and author.
• Robert Pelham Jr. (1859–1943), a journalist and government worker.
• Philip Reid (c. 1820–1892), a skilled worker who helped cast the Statue of Freedom.
• Mary Ann Shadd (1823–1893), an anti-slavery activist. She was the first black woman publisher in North America.
• William Syphax (1825-1891), the first President of the Board of Trustees of Colored Schools of Washington and Georgetown.
• Robert Heberton Terrell (1857–1925), the second African-American judge in Washington, D.C.
• William W. Whipps (?–1940), a black pharmacist who helped start the Washington Association of Colored Druggists.
• James Wormley (1819–1884), who owned the Wormley Hotel. He was the only African-American present when Abraham Lincoln died.