St David African Methodist Episcopal Zion Cemetery on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Beginning in the early 1800s until the mid 1900s, the portion of the historic Sag Harbor district known as Eastville was home to a multi-ethnic population of free Blacks, European immigrants and Native Americans. The area had evolved due to a series of economic changes. There were two village fires, the rise and subsequent downfall of the whaling industry, the development of a factory industry, and the current boom in the tourism and summer resort business. Today Eastville retains its ethnic diversity, with some flight of African-Americans and influx of new residential homebuilders, a change that threatens the summer cottages built during the 1950s for a overbuilt esthetic of mega-mansions more suited for the economies of scale to match the Hamptons chic. In 2014 a historic marker was unveiled at the site of the cemetery, where students from the University of Minnesota used ground-penetrating radar and mapping to survey the cemetery on Eastville Avenue. The funds to conduct the surveys were awarded to the Eastville Community Historical Society (ECHS) by The
A 1925 house originally bought through a Sears & Roebuck catalog, Heritage House became the headquarters of the Eastville Community Historical Society at 139 Hampton Street in 1996, and today administers the affairs of the AME Cemetery. Since 1985 the society has kept the preservation of the Eastville community foremost, and was also instrumental in getting recognition of the adjacent Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Ninevah Beach Subdivisions Historic District designation by the National Park Service.
St. David African Methodist Episcopal Zion Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in the Eastville community of Sag Harbor, New York. It is anchored by the AME church, the Eastville Historical Society House on NY 114 and the St. David Cemetery. The site has around 100 graves, including that of Reverend J. P. Thompson, the first pastor of the St. David
.
AME Zion Church #REDIRECT AME #REDIRECT AME
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...Early history
The Eastville community, a mixed diaspora of Irish, Native American and African-American workers, was established during the 1830s , coinciding with the boom times of Sag Harbor whaling. Formerly known as Snooksville (named after the Irish Snooks-Hicks family), the community was renamed Eastville for its location east of the village. The original location of the AME church still stands to this day. It was constructed in 1839 by African Americans and Native Americans on Eastville Avenue and is believed to have been a stop on theUnderground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
. The founder, Rev. J. P. Thompson, was an abolitionist and confidante of orator Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
. The Eastville Community Historical Society of Sag Harbor (founded 1981) also owns, maintains and preserves the adjacent century-old cemetery in which African and Native Americans of the post-colonial St. David's church membership are buried, of whom many were Sag Harbor whalers. The community also had many Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
who were sympathetic to the abolitionist cause.
In 1857, trustees Elymus Derby, Samuel Butler and David Hempstead of the AME Zion church purchased the land for a cemetery from Hannah and Anna Maria Solomon. It was used for burials until 1993.
Archeological
Beginning in the early 1800s until the mid 1900s, the portion of the historic Sag Harbor district known as Eastville was home to a multi-ethnic population of free Blacks, European immigrants and Native Americans. The area had evolved due to a series of economic changes. There were two village fires, the rise and subsequent downfall of the whaling industry, the development of a factory industry, and the current boom in the tourism and summer resort business. Today Eastville retains its ethnic diversity, with some flight of African-Americans and influx of new residential homebuilders, a change that threatens the summer cottages built during the 1950s for a overbuilt esthetic of mega-mansions more suited for the economies of scale to match the Hamptons chic. In 2014 a historic marker was unveiled at the site of the cemetery, where students from the University of Minnesota used ground-penetrating radar and mapping to survey the cemetery on Eastville Avenue. The funds to conduct the surveys were awarded to the Eastville Community Historical Society (ECHS) by The Archaeological Institute of America
The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...
(AIA) in 2013. The ECHS used the grant to support the preservation and community stewardship of the AME Cemetery, a heritage site that represented the working class community of African American, Irish immigrant and Native American residents in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The funds for the historic marker came from a grant from The William G. Pomerory Foundation, also the Huntington Arts Council and the Archaeological Institute of America.
Heritage House
A 1925 house originally bought through a Sears & Roebuck catalog, Heritage House became the headquarters of the Eastville Community Historical Society at 139 Hampton Street in 1996, and today administers the affairs of the AME Cemetery. Since 1985 the society has kept the preservation of the Eastville community foremost, and was also instrumental in getting recognition of the adjacent Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Ninevah Beach Subdivisions Historic District designation by the National Park Service.
See also
*Lincoln Cemetery (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
Lincoln Cemetery was founded in November 1877 by the Wesley Union African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (A.M.E. Zion Church), and is located at 201 South 30th Street in the Penbrook area of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
History
The oldest ext ...
* Mount Zion Cemetery (Kingston, New York)
* Black churches
The black church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian congregations and denominations in the United States that minister predominantly to African Americans, as well as the ...
* Religion of Black Americans
Religion of black Americans refers to the religious and spiritual practices of African Americans. Historians generally agree that the religious life of black Americans "forms the foundation of their community life". Before 1775 there was scat ...
References
External links
* {{Coord, 40, 59, 42, N, 72, 17, 8, W, type:landmark_region:US-NY, display=title 1838 establishments in New York (state) African-American cemeteries in New York (state) African-American history in the New York metropolitan area Sag Harbor, New York Cemeteries in Suffolk County, New York Underground Railroad in New York (state) Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Ninevah Beach Subdivisions Historic District African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church