Mount Zion Cemetery

To understand the importance of a location it is always important to know its history, to immerse yourself into everything you can find. On this journey we will begin with the location itself before we dive into the deeper history of the church and surrounding area.

The Cemetery is located in North West, Washington D.C. in the Georgetown neighborhood, you can find the cemetery on 26th street and Mill Road next to the Dumbarton House.  The three acre plot of land is composed of two separate but adjacent cemeteries, the Old Methodist Burial Ground and the Female Union Band Society Cemetery. The two groups shared the land and there is no marker to indicate where one begins and the other ends. Due to this, over time the location has come to be known as the Mount Zion Cemetery.

(Credit: Flickr, rockcreek, 2007)

But the location has not always been in the hands of Mount Zion United Methodist Church , it was originally purchased and founded in 1808 by the Dumbarton Street Methodist Church. At  the time the Dumbarton Church congregation was 50%  African American both free and enslaved. Soon the African American members of the church became unsatisfied with  their treatment in the congregation at the hands of the white members. A large majority left in 1816 forming the Mount Zion Methodist Church. We will talk more about the formation of the church itself later but for now we will get back to the cemetery. The church would not take over the land until 1879, first there was the Female Union Band Society. A group of free African American women who pledged to support each other in life and death, the group was formed in 1842 and in that same year they purchased their portion of the land. The women's intention for purchasing the land was to have a space for free African Americans to be buried while the Old Methodist Burial ground buried a variety of enslaved and free African Americans.  The location is even believed to have a connection to the Underground Railroad, the burial crypt on the property is thought to have been a location that runaway slaves hid as they traveled north. Due to the fact that slaves travels were often not recorded for safety and other obvious reasons it is hard to prove for certainty but still the belief is present in the oral histories of the Black community. Oral history is a large part of the black community, it has always been a way for them to continue their history and narrative for centuries.

As is the reality for many historical sites the cemetery was neglected and began to fall apart, twice in the last 43 years groups have volunteered to help clean up the cemetery and honor those whom are buried there.  The first being in 1976 when volunteers lead by the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation, the group cleaned up the cemetery by clearing away underbrush, trash, and ground cover. The second group being in more recent history, students from McKinley High School spent a day in June 2019 cleaning up the site and doing research projects. Many felt a connection to the location and felt it was their duty to help clean it up.

(Credit:  The New York Times, 2016) 

Many of you may wonder why it is so important to save this cemetery when there are cemeteries all over the county that are possibly in worse shape, but this cemetery represents an important time in Washington, D.C.. The land is the final resting place for an estimated 500-1,500 people, mostly African American who lived from 1808-1950, these are the people responsible for the growth of black culture in DC. It is a representation of the evolution and growth of the area and the black community.