Archaeologists find more graves at lost Williamsburg African American cemetery

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Retropolis

Archaeologists find more graves at lost Williamsburg African American cemetery

Hidden under a parking lot for half a century, an old church cemetery has yielded 21 graves



Colonial Williamsburg began an archaeological dig at the original site of the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg on Tuesday. The church was founded by enslaved people from Africa in the late 1700s. (Timothy C. Wright for The Washington Post)

By Michael E. Ruane
Today at 8:00 a.m. EDT

Nineteen more graves have been found in an old African American cemetery that was once buried under a parking lot in Colonial Williamsburg, the site’s chief archaeologist said Thursday.

The total of likely burials discovered at the location of the old First Baptist Church on Nassau Street in the former Virginia capital now stands at 21, with the possibility of more to be found.

In addition, experts said four human teeth have been unearthed at the site of one of the oldest such churches in the country and the earliest African American church in Williamsburg.

Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg’s director of archaeology, said rectangular patterns of soil discoloration show the location of the burials in what is almost certainly the church’s old burying ground.

Some smaller ones may be graves of children.

{snip}

By Michael Ruane
Michael E. Ruane is a general assignment reporter who also covers Washington institutions and historical topics. He has been a general assignment reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, an urban affairs and state feature writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a Pentagon correspondent at Knight Ridder newspapers. Twitter https://twitter.com/michaelruane

[Historic NY]

1. I was there in April just as they were defining the church boundary.....

Had a long conversation with one of the techs. This is the first major dig since construction was completed.