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Maryland Returns Historic Cemetery Land to Descendants of Morningstar Tabernacle No. 88

CABIN JOHN, Md. — October 30, 2025 — In a landmark action six decades in the making, the Maryland Board of Public Works has approved the return of cemetery land to the descendants of Morningstar Tabernacle No. 88 in Cabin John, Maryland.

The action, approved on October 22, returns a portion of Maryland state highway land along the I-495 Capital Beltway right-of-way to the Morningstar Tabernacle No. 88 Moses Cemetery and Hall, long recognized as sacred ground for generations of African American families in the region. Once taken by eminent domain in the early 1960s for construction of the Capital Beltway, the restored parcel—less than a quarter-acre—may hold as many as 26 unmarked graves of those buried at Morningstar Moses Cemetery.

“This important action by the state of Maryland not only helps restore sacred land historically connected to the cemetery but also affirms the cultural and ancestral significance of Morningstar’s legacy,” said Shannon Steward, descendant and Friends of Moses Hall board member.

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A landmark study opens a new possible way for Black Americans to trace their ancestry

(Attendees at the May 4th CPMBS Conference were treated to presentations by Dr. Doug Owsley and Elizabeth Comer on this ground-breaking study and project.)

By

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/04/1191914142/ 

Crystal Emory never knew much about where she came from. Family members took her from her mother for being in an interracial marriage in 1960s and 1970s, leaving her floating between homes. She spent time in an orphanage in Pennsylvania. These experiences, she says, helped instill a need to find out more about her history.

“I just always wanted to know who my family was, and more about myself,” says Emory, 68, now retired from a career in IT. “I just started doing genealogy.”

She knew grandparents were Black, but not much else. She looked for names in newspaper articles, and collected what family lore she could.

“My father’s mother would tell me stories about the family, and I was writing these stories down as a young person,” she said.

It wasn’t until the Smithsonian Institution and a historical society in Frederick County, Md. came calling that Emory was able to trace her history to the Catoctin Furnace, a small ironworking village that made utensils and ammunition for the U.S. from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. With the help of diaries and other records, they connected her to a free, land-owning Black man named Robert Patterson who lived in the area through much of the 19th century. Thanks to that, Emory was able to learn a little about the life he led.

“He owned property before the Civil War,” she said. “He was productive in the community, helping to build a school.”

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Cemetery preservation group aids Dorchester’s New Revived Church

[Watch the event on YouTube!]

TAYLORS ISLAND — Volunteers from around the region joined congregants of New Revived United Methodist Church on June 19 to restore its adjoining cemetery. The buzz of chainsaws blended the rumbling of a small excavator, as crews cut and removed timber, stumps and debris that had fallen on the resting places.

The effort was led by Eddie Dean, who operates the Lower Shore Cemetery Preservation Organization, a group that has been active in finding some of the more obscure — sometimes simply hidden — grave sites in the Dorchester, and giving them the care Mr. Dean and his associates believe they deserve.

Asked why the strenuous and time-consuming work is done, Mr. Dean paused for a moment before saying, “How couldn’t you?”

On a mission

The group’s social media site describes its work, saying, “The focus of this organization is the conservation and preservation of historic cemeteries on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. Advocacy through outreach promoting education in restoration and documentation of these sacred burial grounds.”

That sense of mission has taken Mr. Dean throughout the region. Sometimes, it leads to graveyards like New Revived UMC’s, which are in relatively good shape, and at other times, to spots that are nearly invisible to the eye or almost lost in the records.

The cemeteries, with the few words and dates on the headstones, hold not only the remains of ancestors, but information on their lives and situations. Some are the simplest markers, made by pouring concrete into frames and tracing a name into the wet material.

Others share clues on the work done by the deceased, such as that of one of the Opher brothers in Hargis. His stone shows that he was a veteran of the Second World War, who served in the 3515 Quartermaster Truck Company.

A fallen tree or overgrown grass could hide the record of a serviceman’s time in the army, and eventually cause his contribution to be forgotten.

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Cemetery steward cleans up African American graves in Deale and looks to have its history recognized

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By DONOVAN CONAWAY
CAPITAL GAZETTE | FEB 01, 2021

Elinor Thompson has started cleaning a cemetery in Deale where her in-laws’ family has ancestors buried and has been marking possible unmarked graves along the way.

Tanyard Cemetery, also known Franklin Cemetery, is an African American cemetery owned by Franklin United Methodist Church. Tombstones mark dates ranging from 1842 to 1982 and the site contains over 120 graves, many unmarked and many with hand-carved stones.

The property used to include two buildings, a place where cowhides were tanned and a meeting house that was one of the oldest Black Methodist gathering places in southern Anne Arundel County, said Thompson, the cemetery project manager and steward.

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Alexandria Chapel Cemetery Project

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Alexandria Chapel began the onsite work of identifying unmarked graves on October 24, 2020. Special thanks to Alexandria Chapel volunteers, the District Superintendent of the Washington East District, Rev. Dr. Johnsie Cogman, the Charles County Planning and Growth Management Office, Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites and the African American Heritage Society of Charles County for their work on this project. There’s more work to be be done, but we are pleased to share this video created by the Charles County Planning and Growth Media Office.
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