MURFREESBORO, TN - An almost hidden plot of land along the railroad tracks and next to the bridge on South Church Street near Middle Tennessee Boulevard in Murfreesboro is where the 8-acre Benevolent Cemetery stands as a silent witness to over a century of history. That was Margaret McKinley, secretary of the African American Heritage Society of Rutherford County (AAHSR). McKinley told WGNS the cemetery, which was established in 1897 is now owned by the Allen Chapel AME Church.
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The Paris Chapter of the NAACP seeks volunteers to help care for historic African-American cemeteries. The NAACP’s Abandoned Black Cemetery Association has planned work days for Oct. 21, 22, 28, and 29 to clean up the neglected Greenwood/Baptist Cemetery on West Center Street. Other cemeteries that
The Paris Chapter of the NAACP and its Abandoned Black Cemetery Association plans several upcoming work days devoted to the cleaning of one of the three known abandoned cemeteries in
Murfreesboro’s Benevolent Cemetery, the final resting place for many African Americans, had its state nomination to the National Register of Historic Places approved last Wednesday.
The Benevolent Cemetery is an eight-acre plot of land with 320 marked graves. The last burial here took place in 2002, and since then, the grounds have fallen into disrepair.