Doings Elsewhere

The crew (me, Scott, Pete, and Dio) are working on a project in a different county this week and not on Port Tobacco. One bit of news, however, is that we found a probable African American cemetery in this new project area. I say African American because is consists of rows of shallow depressions (grave fossa), some of the depressions having a piece of fieldstone at one or both ends.

We find these kinds of cemeteries throughout Southern Maryland and, almost invariably, they are associated with post-emancipation African American communities. Undoubtedly there are many in the Port Tobacco area. Unfortunately, even to the practiced eye (and we had several pairs working on this one), they are difficult to find. I'll try to post a map of the site once we have collected some field measurements. This cemetery lies outside of the proposed construction area. Many no doubt are destroyed by construction each year simply because they are 'unmarked,' which is to say they lack the clearly recognizable carved stones with which we are all familiar.

Jim