Providence Burial Ground, Edenton
The Providence Burial Ground memorial is a simple, square, bronze tablet with a blackened background attached to a lectern shaped granite block several feet high.
Images:
Providence Burial Ground (African American Cemetery, 18th-19th centuries)
PROVIDENCE BURIAL GROUND / ESTABLISHED IN THE LATE 18TH CENTURY, THIS AFRICAN / AMERICAN CEMETERY IS THE FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR MANY / FREE BLACKS, SLAVES, AND EMANCIPATED PEOPLE BURIED HERE / THROUGH THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. AMONG THOSE INTERRED / HERE ARE SEVERAL FAMILY MEMBERS OF THOMAS BARNWELL, A / FREE BLACK PROPERTY OWNER; MOLLY HORNIBLOW, A FREE BLACK / BUSINESSWOMAN AND GRANDMOTHER OF AUTHOR AND / ABOLITIONIST HARRIET JACOBS, AND JONATHAN OVERTON, A / FREE BLACK VETERAN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, A PRIVATE IN / THE 10TH N.C. REGIMENT OF THE CONTINENTAL LINE. / RECONSECRATED FEBRUARY 22, 2001
Providence Baptist Church
February 22, 2001
36.064120 , -76.615820
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"Providence Burial Ground," Find A Grave, findagrave.com, (accessed July 23, 2020) Link
Henderson, Deborah Lafayette, "What lies beneath: reading the cultural landscape of graveyard and burial grounds in African-American history and Literature" (2008). ETD Collection for AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library. Paper 61
North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Department of Cultural Resources. "Edenton Historic District Boundary Increase 2 and Additional Documentation. Edenton, Chowan County, CO1185, Listed 9/28/2007. Nomination by Michelle Michael. Photographs by Michelle Michael, March 2007." National Register of Historic Places, (accessed July 23, 2020) Link
“Black Heritage Travel: Southeastern United States: North Carolina,” African American History and Heritage Site, (accessed February 28, 2020) Link
“Edenton, North Carolina: an Historic Town,” American History for Travelers, americanhistory4travelers.com, (accessed July 24, 2020) Link
“Providence Burial Ground,” Visitnc.com, (accessed February 28, 2020) Link
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Bronze, granite
Burial ground of prominent African-American, free blacks and military people from late 18th century and 19th century. Notables buried there include: Thomas Barnswell, free black and noted builder; Molly Horniblow, grandmother of author and
abolitionist Harriet Jacobs; Jonathon Overton, Private of Continental Line of Captain Jones Company, 10th regiment.
The burial ground has about thirty known graves, most marked by 4 foot high white posts absent of names and years of birth and death. The exact location of the burial ground had been forgotten over time. Its location was confirmed in 2000 covered in years of overgrowth. Much of what is known about the cemetery history comes from Harriet A. Jacobs's (1813-1897) memoir Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.
The Providence Burial Ground (African American Cemetery, 18th-19th centuries) is located at 306 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Edenton, NC 27932
Grassy lot with scattered trees next to Filbert’s Creek.
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