A closed gas station and an old office building on South Washington Street are surrounded by the remains of some 1,800 former slaves who escaped to Union-held Alexandria during the Civil War.
The city will rededicate the site in May, launching a three-year project to turn the property into a memorial park. Luminaries marked with the names of the dead, forgotten since the cemetery was abandoned in 1869, will be lit on the southwest corner of Church and South Washington streets.
Once the buildings are removed, archaeologists will identify the graves. Previous archaeological work during studies for the Wilson Bridge project revealed 123 graves.
City archaeologist Pam Cressey expects to begin in late spring or summer, lasting through 2007. The city will then hold a design competition for the memorial park. The Alexandria Freedmen’s Memorial Park is scheduled to open in 2010.
“It will be a gateway to Alexandria, a very meaningful tribute to these people,” Cressey said.
About 10,000 escaped slaves came to live in Alexandria shantytowns during the war, Cressey said. Mortality rates were high, particularly for children. The cemetery was created in 1864, when Union officers seized land belonging to Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s attorney, Cressey said. After the war, the cemetery was run by the Freedmen’s Bureau, which assisted former slaves during reconstruction. When Congress cut the bureau’s funding, the property returned to its original owner in 1869. It was zoned for commercial use and sold in 1946.Children are invited to make the luminaries for the May service March 24 and April 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum, 105 N. Union St., studio 327. For more information, call the Alexandria Archaeology Museum at 703-838-4399.
