A woman researching her historic home has discovered a deed mentioning a burial ground under what is now a school parking lot.
Hedy Grant believes she's found evidence of an African-American cemetery in back of the Bertrand F. Gibbs School.Hedy Grant wanted to know more about the old house in New Milford, N.J., that she’s lived in for 36 years. More about the funky abode with the low-slung ceilings, the moss-covered patio and the ancient brook that swerves through the backyard in an area of town long ago known as The Flatts.
“This is much more interesting and worthwhile,” Grant said of her find. “Finding out how old my house is would satisfy my personal curiosity, but I think finding an old African-American burial ground should be a matter of celebration, for the board of education, for Bergen County, and the whole State of New Jersey.”
Hedy Grant , with New Milford Board of Education president Tonia Andrews and Peggy Norris in back of B.F. Gibbs school, which they believe was once a African-American burial ground. Norris said she could find no listing of the cemetery elsewhere, and it’s unlikely the graves were marked. “Who knows when it disappeared?” she said.
New Jersey was among the last states in the North to ban slavery when it adopted legislation in 1804. But even then, the emancipation of slaves was gradual; it wasn’t until 1866 that the last slaves in New Jersey went free.
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