Free Black Americans Lived In NJ's Timbuctoo Decades Before Juneteenth — But The History Is Falling Apart

CBS Philadelphia

June 17, 2025

In the spirit of Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black people in the U.S., a historic free Black community in Burlington County is fighting to keep its story alive while facing decades of neglect.

Timbuctoo, New Jersey, was founded by formerly enslaved people nearly 200 years ago — long before June 19, 1865. It remains home to descendants like Guy Weston and his mother, Mary Giles Weston, now 89, who still hold treasured family documents and memories of the land their ancestors built.

Through the Timbuctoo Historical Society, Weston's family has protected the community's Civil War cemetery, believed to be the only above-ground evidence of this once-thriving settlement. But residents say local leaders in Westampton Township have failed to preserve the rest.

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