Identifying an Enslaved Persons' Cemetery

Attributes to Look For

A ground penetrating radar image, showing an underground disturbance.

Depressions

Over time, wooden coffins disintegrate. This causes the soil to settle and compact, leaving a depression on the surface of the ground, or in the ground.

When a depression is not visible, a ground penetrating radar (GPR) can confirm the depression.

This GPR image shows a depression two meters in depth from the surface.

Alignment

For religious reasons, the deceased were laid with their feet facing the East.

In the photo to the left, the orange lines are temporarily spray painted to identify the location and alignment of a grave. The yellow flags indicate where the headstone would have been.

Close up of a grave marker made of fieldstone.

Markers

Some cemeteries for enslaved persons no longer have markers.

For cemeteries that do still have markers, the markers are often fieldstone because they were readily available.

Grave markers for enslaved persons also often do not have inscriptions because enslaved people were prohibited from learning to read and write.

In the cemetery I researched, only 3 of the 21 grave shafts had markers.

An enslaved persons' cemetery on the grounds of the University of Virginia.

Location

Hills are often the location for cemeteries of enslaved persons.

This is because hilly land is less arable and therefore less valuable to a plantation.

Enslaved persons' cemeteries were also often situated far from the enslavers' house.