PAF Site Visit to Byberry Township African American Burial Ground

On behalf of the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum, PAF members Jed Levin and Patrice L. Jeppson made a site visit March 6th, 2023, to the Byberry Township African American Burial Ground in Northeast Philadelphia. There they meet on-site with Jacqueline Wiggins, an expert on the subject of African-American studies in Philadelphia, Hannah Wallace, a freelance consultant to the Greater Philadelphia Preservation Alliance and The Society to Preserve African American Assets (SPPAA), whose specialty is 18th-19th century Philadelphia African American history, and ˜Jennifer Robinson, Director of Preservation Services for the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. The Preservation Alliance and SPPAAA are in public and private dialogues to develop and execute a formal plan for landscaping, wayfinding, and publicly interpreting the Byberry Township African American Burial Ground. PAF is pleased to be able to offer assistance to this effort.

The Society to Preserve Philadelphia African American Assets (SPPAAA), is a 501C3 organization acting to increase awareness about, and advocate for the preservation of, Philadelphia African American history as represented by historic and culturally significant assets (properties, murals, monuments, placards, cemeteries, and archaeological sites). The mission of the Preservation Alliance of Great Philadelphia is to actively promote the appreciation, protection, and appropriate use and development of the Philadelphia region’s historic buildings, communities, and landscapes. The Philadelphia Archaeological Forum (PAF) is dedicated to the protection and preservation of archaeological resources in and around the City of Philadelphia. Its mission is to further awareness of the Philadelphia-area’s rich archaeological heritage through educational programs and activities which reach beyond the professional community. PAF offers to advise agencies and the general public, along with special interest groups such as the Preservation Alliance and SPPAAA, on local-area archaeological matters. PAF encourages communication about, and support for, public education efforts that concern the archaeology of the city and its environs.

The graveyard was established by the Friends Meeting in 1780 as “The Burying Place For All Free Negroes or People of Color within Byberry.” Several entities and individuals have previously investigated this historical burial ground. The Northeast Philadelphia History Network and several local researchers delved into the history of the site, including trying to track the land’s ownership overtime (see partial bibliography below). In 1993, a Phase II Historical Research and Archaeological Testing study was done near the vicinity when a federal government building was constructed nearby. In 2015, Joseph J. Menkevich prepared an information rich, 85-page nomination for the cemetery’s inclusion in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.

The cemetery today has no visible headstones or grave markers and the ground surface is heavily overgrown. After walking an informal survey throughout the location, PAF suggested several possible non-invasive research studies that could possibly lead to new information about the burial ground. These suggestions included checking historical aerial photographic archives, Infra-red photography taken via drone, archaeological assisted metal detecting, ground penetrating radar, and proton magnetometer studies – all of which have a potential to possibly reveal something about the general size and location of subsurface features in the area without involving excavation or other below ground-surface disturbances.

Infra-red photography reveals temperature differences which, in an archaeological context, can be indicative of past soil disturbances. This kind of investigation, done by drone, satellite, and even raised cherry picker bucket, might reveal subsurface ground intrusions such as burial shafts as well as compacted earth and or buried stone or brick walkways/paths. In this case, it could possibly suggest where individual burial grave shafts were dug, and in which cardinal direction the graves were laid out.

Archaeological assisted metal detecting could perhaps indicate the spacial layout of burials interned at the cemetery, and possibly help to better understand the total number of burials that took place while the cemetery was in operation. This would be possible if the detecting devices were able to pick up the signature of metal hardware that was part of either coffin construction or coffin decoration (e,g,, nails, hinges) and or burial shroud or clothing fittings (buckles, buttons, safety pins, straight brass pins, etc.).

Similarly, but beyond metal traces, ground penetrating radar and proton magnetometer studies hold a potential to possibly reveal the general size and location of subsurface features like grave shafts, possible buried grave markers, the foundations of any once-present boundary walls, and the layout of any pathways that may have been built intentionally or which were created informally as a result of visitation.

Following the onsite visit, PAF took a quick preliminary look confirming there are black and white, color, and Infrared historical images of the property. These references were forwarded to the parties met with. This imagery included fly over photographs housed in the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (PASDA), the Commonwealth’s official public access open geospatial data portal and the PennPilot Historical Aerial Photo Library, 1938 – 1980, an online library of digital historical aerial photography for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sponsored by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. The photographs in question were produced for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the PA Emergency Management Agency, the US Geological Survey High Altitude Photography program and National Aerial Photography program, the US Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency, and the City of Philadelphia.

PAF’s suggestions for noninvasive research avenues included projects requiring various levels of technical involvement and a range of costs. PAF explained the potential hindrances to such studies (e.g., sensor readings impacted by rocky soil) and discussed with those present the range of resources and experience required for such studies that are available locally and regionally.

PAF remains interested in the plans for preserving and interpreting the Byberry Township African American Burial Ground. PAF is pleased to offer assistance as needed and able to these parties.

–Patrice L. Jeppson, April 1st, 2023

Learn more here:

  • Byberry African American Burial Ground, Archived ZOOM Meeting YOUTUBE, 1hr 6 minutes. Friends of the Northeast Philadelphia History Network February 2003 Meeting. Speakers: Fred Moore “Overview of Black Cemeteries in Northeast Philadelphia”, Patrick Grossy (Preservation Alliance), Deborah Gary (Society to Preserve Philadelphia African American Assets, Hannah Wallace, consultant to Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and the Society to Preserve Philadelphia African American Assets. Click on the image below…

Black History Month: Local Researcher Hopes Historic Marker Gets Erected At Forgotten African American Cemetery (CBS news, February 2022).

Byberry Township African American Burial Ground Facebook page (originally “The Burying Place For All Free Negroes or People of Color within Byberry Twp.” Est. 1780).

Patrice L. Jeppson, Ph.D. 05/01/23

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