CAMBRIDGE, MD - Silent City Cemetery, an old African American burial ground in Dorchester County, is the focus of new preservation efforts by local historians.
It's known as Silent City Cemetery, named and started by Reverend H. Lewis Bayneum, one of the first African Americans to build a cemetery here in Cambridge. And before this place and the people are forgotten, historians are doing the work now.
With roughly 50 known burials at Silent City, the Dorchester County Historical Society is working to uncover the site's history.
"It seems like there's a good mixture of people who were from out of Dorchester, but also locals who may not have had the family here or the funding to be able to do their own burial site. So this was kind of a site done out of service to the community, and there are a lot of infant burials there as well," said Zoe Phillips, executive director of the Dorchester Historical Society.
The cemetery contains graves believed to date from the late 1930s to the 1970s. However, decades of neglect have left the site in disrepair, with broken, sunken, or eroded graves.
"It's been sitting for half a century, kind of undisturbed. And we didn't know much about it, and there's really scant history about it," said Val Newcomb, vice president of economic and community development with Urban Grid.
To preserve the site, Phillips and Newcomb are partnering to document its history and honor those buried there. Phillips plans to research and share the stories of those laid to rest at Silent City.
"To really share, you know, what Silent City is, where it is, more about those people buried there, more about the reverend who started it, and how these people have worked so hard in the past to try to keep it going," Phillips said.
Newcomb’s team will ensure the site is memorialized.
"But as far as any disturbance of the actual grave sites or the headstones, we won't be disturbing them beyond what the weather has done over the years," she said. "Our plan is not to, you know, recreate the graveyard or restore anything that's there. That was not advised. [by The Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites] You know, history, for 50 years, has weathered this site. It's really not super safe to walk back there. It's private property. We plan to bring a roadside memorial to the foreground so that anyone who's interested would be able to learn more about the project."
Plans for the site include a cleanup, the addition of a gated area, and the installation of a roadside memorial, expected to begin in April. For more information on how the public can help with clean up, visit the Dorchester County Historical Society’s website.
A presentation on the work will be Thursday February, 27 at 7:00pm at the Dorchester County Historical Society.