Locust Grove Cemetery honors African American Ancestors

On April 8, 1880, a meeting of the Stephens City (then Newtown/Stephensburg) Town Council was held. On motion of Captain George A. Grove, a grant of one-half acre of ground on the western side of the Village on what is known as Academy Hill was made to the African American people as a burial place. The burial ground would later be named Locust Grove Cemetery.

Locust Grove Cemetery, established in 1880, is an active burial ground where old headstones worn down by time and the elements share space with newer headstones.

The one-half acre grant was recorded by the Frederick County circuit court clerk in Deed Book 96, pages 147-148. A summary of the entry is provided.

Whereas the mayor and councilmen of the town of Newtown/Stephensburg, Frederick County Virginia being desirous to provide a cemetery or burying ground for the use of the colored people of the said town and the vicinity. Whereas at a town meeting of the colored people of the said town the following named persons were appointed trustees to whom the said burying ground should be granted and conveyed to be held by them in trust for the purposes and uses of aforesaid namely Robert Turner, George Harris, Euro Wormley, Robert Robertson, Allen Robertson, Daniel Winesberry, Thomas Hottel, and Enoch Jenkins. Therefore, this deed made and entered by the mayor and councilmen of said town of the one part and the said Robert Turner and other trustees as aforesaid of the other part and dated this tenth day of September 1880.

American Flag flies on early August morning at Locust Grove Cemetery in Stephens City. Eight Armed Services Veterans are buried here.

The land constituted a part of the town commons and was bounded as follows on the north by Locust Street, on the east by the commons of the town, on the south by the town commons, and on the west side by West Street and opposite to John Hoover’s lot. The land was transferred for the payment sum of one dollar.

The plot of land was originally referred to as a Colored peoples cemetery on D. J. Lake & Co. map in in 1885. How it received the name Locust Grove is not known. Some say because the property lies at the intersection of Locust and Grove Streets. But Grove Street was called West Street in 1880. Byron Smith, Executive Director & Curator of the Stone House Foundation, believes the road name was changed to Grove Street when M. J. Grove Lime Company began business here in 1902, with six kilns in operation. Others believe the land was called Locust Grove for the stand of Locust Trees that covered the property.

Many African American families living during the Antebellum South period are buried here. Addison, Armistead, Avery, Baker, Ball, Barber, Berger, Best, Boyd, Brown, Cambell, Cash, Corley, Curry, Day, Doleman, Dorman, Ford, Gaither, Gant, Harris, Hill, Holness, Holtz, Huddle, Humbert, Jackson, Johnson, Lewis, Long, Martin, Mason, Medley, Minifield, Nickens, Oaks, Peyton, Phoenix, Pines, Rhodes, Roberts, Robinson, Shields, Splawn, Stern, Taper, Tokes, Trent, Turner, Walker, Wallace, Wanzer, Washington, Willett, Williams, Willis and Wilson.

Splawn Family Plot. Wrought iron fence encloses grave sites from 1900 to 1949.

The first known written record referring to Locust Grove can be found in the Winchester Evening Star, dated February 28, 1903, Page 1. John W. Tokes of Opequon, Frederick County was buried at Locust Grove Cemetery. Stephens City. The Funeral Directors were Funk & Ray, Rev. B. J. Layton officiating.

So, why did the Stephens City Town Council grant one-half acre for the purposes of establishing a cemetery for African Americans?  The Council was aware that Middletown’s founder, Peter Senseney, deeded a one-acre lot in 1801 for a meeting house and burial place for “people of the African race” living in the Middletown area. Peter Senseney is not believed to have owned slaves. The Mt. Zion Cemetery was in operation from 1801-1954.

The Council could have been influenced by Rev. Robert Orrick, a man of impressive appearance and magnetism who became a noted minister, evangelist, prosperous businessman. Beginning in the 1860s, Rev. Orrick preached in African-American Methodist churches throughout the Winchester area, always filling the pulpits.

After the Civil War, Rev. Orrick was one of the leading African American businessmen in the greater Winchester area. He was a major contributor to building a new church for African Americans in Stephens City. The church was built between 1866 and 1869 on Mulberry Street largely through the efforts and generosity of Rev. Orrick who donated and hauled the construction materials to the site. In recognition of his contributions, the church was named Orrick Chapel.

Beginning in the 1870s, Orrick wanted to establish a cemetery for African American families which was not an open common pauper’s field where strangers and criminals were buried, and cattle freely grazed. He believed industrious and enterprising African American citizens should establish and maintain a cemetery where their families could be buried and continue to be a proper burial place to bequeath to their children.

The Locust Grove area might have been a pauper’s field where free Blacks and slaves were buried. Orrick could have convinced the town councilman to donate a half-acre to African American trustees to manage the property as their own cemetery.

Frederick County court records reflect that Stephens City Town Council transferred a second half-acre in a supplemental deed to seven new trustees on September 15, 1923 (George Harris, Gus Boyd, Henry Dorman, Isaac Avery, R. A. Robinson, Lathan Williams, and Andrew Wanzer) to increase the size of the Locust Grove Cemetery. The sum of $300 was paid by the trustees.

Like Green Hill Cemetery, across Martin Street, African Americans owned and maintained family burial plots. Winchester Evening Star brief, dated October 15, 1954, Page 5, cites Eldridge F. Wanzer was buried in the family lot in Locust Grove Cemetery. The service was held at Orrick Chapel Methodist Church, Rev. Odell Carr, pastor, and officiating.

Rick Kriebel, Manager of Collections & Programs of the Stone House Foundation, includes a mid-20th century description of Locust Grove Cemetery in his 2023 Guided History Trolley Tour. Some of the information is summarized as follows. During the 1950s, there was a dirt road around the cemetery, and a dirt drive running through it. There was a steeper slope from the road to the actual burial ground which made it difficult for the elderly to traverse the gravesites. The African American community gathered at the cemetery once a year to provide their labor and capital to clean, clear, make level, and restore the burial grounds.

May 1985

In 1985, the cemetery was in disrepair with volunteer custodians mowing the grass around the graves. Gravestones leaned, some were sunk in the ground and others fallen over. Vandals, time, and overgrown vegetation had also taken their toll on the cemetery. No fence surrounded the grounds at that time. All the former trustees from 1923 were presumed dead and no new trustees were ever recorded at the town office or with the Frederick County circuit court clerk.

A few town residents like Jessie Curry and Anna L. Wanzer began taking an interest in revitalizing the historic cemetery. Their uncles were trustees and several of their relatives were buried here. Curry, Richard Medley, and Charles Corley all would take turns cutting the grass and trimming the weeds.

Residents of Stephens City with relatives buried in the cemetery wanted to do more than mow the gravesites. The group of Wanzer, Curry, Medley, Corley, John Shields III, Charles Richard Berger, Jackie Cain, and Lawrence Williams wanted to become the new cemetery trustees. They were motivated to ensure that the cemetery was managed and maintained in a dignified manner.

When land has been conveyed as a cemetery, a state statute allows any ten residents within a jurisdiction to approach the circuit court to be named trustees.

Money was raised to build a proposed fence and landscape the cemetery. The congregation of Orrick Chapel took up a collection of $500. Besides the improvements, Curry said that once the trustees were officially installed, a plan for administering the land should be developed with consideration for charging fees for any future burials. The money would be used for the cemetery’s upkeep. As it was then, burials were free and virtually unrestricted.

June 1994

The nonprofit Locust Grove Cemetery Inc. was founded June 30, 1994. Anna L. Wanzer’s labor was instrumental in obtaining incorporation. The organization was established with a charter to protect, restore, preserve, and maintain the burial grounds. The board members strove to establish the importance of maintaining Locust Grove as a memorial to African-American families that not only lived, worked, prospered, and died in the Stephens City, but were also connected by bloodlines.

The cemetery provided physical evidence of African Americans past and their existence as a family. It was the organization’s objective to become more aware of their genealogical connection to ancestors who lay at rest in these burial grounds. Awareness of their ancestors, their trials, tribulations, and achievements, would help strengthen the roots that bind generations together.

A six-foot-high chain-link fence was installed around the entire cemetery in 2005 with money received from fundraisers and assistance from the Town of Stephens City.

June 2017

On a Saturday morning, Locust Grove Cemetery Inc. held a program at the cemetery located at 5300 Grove Street, to educate the public about its history and to seek assistance in its preservation. Locust Grove board members had been working to compile and update the burial register with a more comprehensive list of the people buried here.

The cemetery had been neglected in the past and the organization’s members feared if not properly managed, the people buried there would be gradually forgotten. The members were so passionate about the cemetery because many of their ancestors were buried at the site.

The board members wanted their children to remember their people have a proud legacy and an important history here and these burial grounds retain memories of their family’s past.

The Locust Grove Cemetery Treasurer, Garland Williams (since 2008), said knowing the past gives the younger generations even more reason to connect now. Children who grow up in this area do not truly understand that at one time people were buried in certain cemeteries based on their ethnicity or the color of their skin.

Saturday’s program gave the organization the chance to identify and share the needs of the cemetery and solicit help from residents, community business, and local government.

A presentation explained various ways volunteers could help with the preservation. The opportunities included educating others about the historical significance of the cemetery. Establishing identity and permanent grave markers for unmarked graves. Mapping the lot to help to plan for future gravesites. Identifying and restoring tombstones and making a financial contribution to purchase supplies and equipment.

July 2018

Stephens City residents were honored by the Locust Grove board after sixty years of volunteer service.

Richard Medley began cleaning up the historical African American cemetery when he was 28, (1958). He started mowing his relatives’ gravesites and decided to go ahead and mow the rest of the cemetery.

He was soon joined by his cousins Jesse and Alfred (Alf) Curry. Each man took great pleasure in the restoration and maintenance of the cemetery. Board treasurer Garland Williams said the men cleared a fair amount of the land that was covered in thickets of locust trees and honey suckle.

“They used their own scythes, sickles, lawn, and riding mowers, and weed eaters to mow and trim the one-acre property. The cemetery underwent property improvements to include clearing unruly vegetation, downed or dead trees, and received more frequent grass cuttings to make the cemetery more attractive,” Williams said.

In 2019, a boundary survey of both parcels, known as Locust Grove Cemetery, was completed by David E. Lellock of Lellock Consulting, PC, and recorded in Frederick County, Virginia, on June 12, 2019.

August 2022

The historic Locust Grove Cemetery finally received a paved driveway that makes negotiating the burial site much easier. The 450-foot-long road was previously dirt and gravel. The improved entrance not only meets the cemetery board’s desire for a more attractive driveway, it resolved the issues of safety and comfort. The board wanted visitors who may often be elderly, frail, or distracted by concerns associated with the loss of a loved one to feel comfortable, while driving or walking the grounds.

Locust Grove Cemetery looking north to south, Green Hill Cemetery and 2,106-foot Signal Knob Mountain in the background.

Slonakers Custom Paving of Kearneysville, West Virginia, paved the driveway using a donation of 110 tons of crushed stone by the Carmeuse Winchester Operation in Clearbrook, VA. The Town of Stephens City completed the needed excavation. The project was coordinated by Denise Medley and approved by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Scouting America sponsored scouts who performed service projects to include installing a flagpole and lighting, placing brick pavers donated by Frederick Block of Winchester, around the flagpole, and planting shrubs around the circular paved base of the flagpole.

Each year, since 2018, volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have rendered their services to the cemetery. These activities have included picking up trash, planting trees, weeding, trimming, and cleaning the head and footstones.

September 2024

Currently, the Locust Grove burial register contains 240 graves. 135 were interred before January 1, 1948. Many of these graves are unmarked, while the elements have rendered some headstones illegible; marriage, birth, and death certificates of persons living in or near the Stephens City area who may have been buried at Locust Grove Cemetery can be helpful. “We may not know the exact burial spot of an unknown or discovered person, but for me, it is an even greater blessing to be able to find the names and missing facts concerning persons recorded as having Locust Grove Cemetery as their final resting place. It is good to have a name for those to be remembered and honored,” Denise Medley said.

Former Locust Grove Director and Secretary Denise Medley (2017-2023) continues efforts to research and compile a more detailed list of the people buried here. The primary resource used to support and document the research is Ancestry.com. Find a Grave.com has also been a reliable and contributing source. It is Medley’s hope to compile her research in a book and share this information with families looking to trace their ancestry. Medley requests any information, persons of interest, photos, and documents that would support the history of Locust Grove Cemetery be submitted to the board of directors.

2024 Locust Grove Cemetery Board of Directors on a rainy, foggy, Saturday morning in September. L to R: President Alesha Whitmore, Jackie Cain, Larry Cain, Kenneth Minifield Sr., Secretary Yvette Stallings, Treasurer Garland Williams, and Latasha Vanderpuye. Not Pictured: Bryan Washington. All photos courtesy Harry Newman.

There are currently more than two hundred burial plots available. About three to six burials take place each year.

Bryan Washington has served on the board of directors for thirty-four years.

Board members Larry Cain and Garland Williams are the current volunteer groundskeepers.

Anyone who has information about Locust Grove Cemetery or who would like to donate or assist with its upkeep should email locustgrovecemetery5300@gmail.com.