Image: Underground Railway Cemetery

Description: The African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery, the burial place for over 140 Black pioneers, is one of the few remaining black pioneer burial grounds in Ontario. It is also significant as the site of the former African Methodist Episcopal Church. On the encouragement of the local Quaker population, Blacks came to the Norwich area beginning in 1829. The local Black pioneer population grew to almost 100 by the year 1860. The plaque reads: "Black Settlement in Norwich Township: About 1829 Blacks began settling in Norwich Township. Within several years their number exceeded 100 and a school, aided by the Canadian Mission, was established on Lot 15, concession 7. It became S.S. 18, prospering until the late 1850s. In 1856 Isaac Grey, Isaac Durphy and Lindsey Anderson, Trustees of the African (later British) Methodist Episcal Church, purchased this site on which a frame church, with Anderson as first preacher, was built. Though the Black population in Norwich Township declined during the 1880s, services and large camp meetings were held at the church until the early 1900s."
Title: Underground Railway Cemetery
Credit: Own work
Author: Ian Furst
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Attribution Required?: Yes