Burial+Ground+for+Slaves

Location of Old Slave Burial Ground. There have been no signs of a slave burial ground for more than a century, yet old newspaper accounts point to the existence of one at 80th Street on the south side of Liberty Avenue many years ago.

When Liberty Avenue was being paved and upgraded (and the elevated line was being built), several skeletons were discovered on the south side at Hudson Street (now 80th Street). At first, the workmen thought that they had uncovered an old Indian burial ground until some older residents set the story straight.

According to the old-timers, the custom was to bury the servants of the well-to-do families next to a board fence at this location. The low mounds marking their final resting place and the names of the dead carved on that wooden fence was the entirety of the cemetery; there were no gravestones or individual markers. When, over time, the board fell apart and fell over, there was no trace left of the cemetery.

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