Headstones Dumped By Potomac Reunited With Graves At MD Cemetery

LANDOVER, MD — Officials will reunite 55 dumped headstones with their graves in Prince George's County, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday. The markers were scattered along the Virginia banks of the Potomac River for erosion control after their Washington, D.C. cemetery closed decades ago.

"As soon as we learned of the massive undertaking to recover these headstones, we offered the full support of our entire Maryland team," Hogan said in a press release. "We have no greater responsibility as leaders in democracy than preserving for future generations the importance of clearly differentiating between right and wrong."

The headstones all came from D.C.'s Columbian Harmony Cemetery, where 37,000 Black residents were buried. The graveyard was sold in the 1960s and replaced with a development.

Workers transferred many of the graves to National Harmony Memorial Park in Landover. The new owners sold or gave away the headstones, however.

Some of the prominent locals laid to rest at the former burial ground include:

• Elizabeth Keckly - A former slave who became a seamstress and trusted confidante of first lady Mary Todd Lincoln
• Osborne Perry Anderson - The only Black survivor of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry
• Mary Ann Shadd Cary - America’s first Black female newspaper editor
• Philip Reid - A foundryman who helped build the Statue of Freedom at the U.S. Capitol.

"They were talented soldiers, civil rights leaders, dressmakers, and so much more," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser stated. "They were moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers, friends and neighbors. They made and continue to make our families, our city, and our nation proud, and today we honor their lives."

The Maryland National Guard will join the Virginia National Guard this fall to search for more headstones. They will inspect a two-mile riverside stretch where the first headstones were found.

DMV leaders commemorated the initial headstone transfer with a Monday ceremony at Caledon State Park in King George, Virginia. Hogan attended the event with Bowser and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

"It’s our duty to make sure these headstones are returned to the graves they were intended to mark and honor," Northam commented. "As we reckon with the many impacts of systemic racism, we must tell the full and true story of our shared history, including indignities inflicted on people of color even after death."

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter. Download our mobile application from the App Store or Google Play.

RELATED:

• Gravestones Dumped Along Potomac To Be Repatriated With Remains | Washington DC, DC Patch

Have a story idea? Please contact me at jacob.baumgart@patch.com with any pitches, tips or questions. Follow me on Twitter @JacobBaumgart and on Facebook @JacobBaumgartJournalist to stay up-to-date with the latest Anne Arundel County and Prince George's County news.