Easton is looking for the public’s input regarding a historic African-American cemetery discovered underneath one of its parks.
The city of Easton recently said in a release that it is inviting community members to submit thoughts, comments, and/or suggestions on the cemetery that was discovered on the city’s south side, beneath Nesquehoning Street Park.
The input will used to help determine the future of the park as a memorial, as well as to help locate living descendants of those interred.
The city said the cemetery was discovered during a public input session about the future of the park, when a neighbor remarked that he had heard a rumor that the site was once a cemetery.
A preliminary report from Easton’s consultant confirmed that an African-American cemetery dating to at least the 1870s is located beneath the parcel.
The report said it is likely possible that some graves may not have been relocated prior to the site’s conversion into the park.
During the researching process, the firm Omnes contacted local historian Leonard Buscemi, Ph.D., who confirmed the site’s past as a burial ground.
In his 2016 book South Easton: South Side, Buscemi made note of an 1886 report from the Easton Express, where around a dozen White boys dug up the remains of George Hoff, a Black Civil War veteran interred in the “colored burying ground on the hill.”
Born in 1844, Hoff served as a First Sergeant in the United States Colored Troops, 25th Regiment, Company B, during the Civil War. He returned to Easton and was interred in Nesquehoning in 1870 after his death. The location of Hoff’s remains was confirmed through accounts of his reinterment by the Grand Army of the Republic.
The report also said that records from the former first Colored Evangelical Church of Easton showed the names of 10 church members besides Hoff “whose remains were interred at the Black cemetery located the Nesquehoning site in ‘So. Easton.’”
These listed individuals were Rosie Hoff, Floyd Prime, Laura Merritt, Sallie Smith, Lavinia Olestra, the daughter of Peter and Catherine Lewis, Solomon McIntire, Laura Wilson, William White, and Blanche Louise Hoff.
Another eight people were listed as being buried at the “Colored Cemetery,” which the report said may refer to the Nesquehoning site.
These individuals were listed in the church records as Jane Durling, Jacob Prime, Edward M’Intire, Catherine Moss, Sophia Duncan, Francis Martin, Catharine Moore, and Nancy Hunt.
Easton said that in the time since the report was created, the site has been characterized by ground-penetrating radar, which confirmed likely burials.
A working group made up of community stakeholders has been established to conduct deed and genealogical research.
The city said it will continue researching the site for the rest of 2023, and will begin formulating a plan for the parcel’s future in early 2024.
Public comments can be submitted through the project email address: cemproject@easton-pa.gov.
(Original air-date: 8/21/23)
