“This cemetery is the only concrete evidence there was a Black community in Gettysburg,” said Lincoln Cemetery Project Association Director Jean Green as she surveyed the 1.6 acre cemetery on the corner of Long Lane and Lincoln Lane in Gettysburg.
The cemetery is Gettysburg’s only surviving Black cemetery and the final resting place of more than 450 citizens of Gettysburg and Adams County.
Green, who took the helm of the association after a reorganization in January 2023, has taken a special and personal interest in protecting the cemetery. She visits it almost every day.
“My family has been here since the 1890s and many of them are buried here,” she said. “I want to make sure I’m doing everything for the benefit of people who are buried here. We’ve been walking over folks and didn’t know it.”
Green said the cemetery includes about 250 headstones and 136 unknown bodies. “One goal of the association is to procure headstones for each of the unknown bodies. Well try our best to put a name to them,” she said.
Bodies from other cemeteries in the borough have been relocated here over the years.
A recent project has been to use ground-penetrating radar technology to search for coffins underground. “It acts like an X-ray,” said Green. “I wanted to uncover everything.”
The cemetery is now dotted with small orange flags, each of which represents the location of a grave uncovered in the survey.
Green said caring for the cemetery was a community effort. “The rec park mows the lawn and many volunteers help out,” she said.
Green said the cemetery faces many challenges including, most recently, an influx of surface water that comes off Lincoln Lane during heavy rains. “There are nights I’m awake because something is amiss at the cemetery,” she said.
The cemetery is currently closed to visitors. “It’s not safe for visitors right now,” said Green. “We have a lot of ground work to do.”
Green said she hoped the cemetery would open on weekends during the summer months.
Visitors who wish to visit can arrange a tour from the contact page at the association’s website. “I hope people will bear with us,” said Green.
Green said when she took over the association from former president Betty Dorsey Meyers she knew it was the right decision. “God had Betty seek me out because he knew I would be the one to care for the cemetery,” she said.
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.
St. Paul’s AME Zion Church is also a tangible example that there was a Black community in Gettysburg. The Gettysburg Black History Museum is another. – I love that there is work being done to open and introduce the cemetery to Gettysburg at large. And it’s always a powerful optic to see Black history projects being helmed by Black people. That perspective is as important as the narrative.