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Evergreen
Cemetery Bladensburg, MD Recently someone wanted to know if Evergreen or the "Old Presbyterian Burying Grounds" was still around and/or in use. The answer is yes to both. It's in Bladensburg, MD. If you want to visit, the Bladensburg Police have the key (in exchange for a $10 deposit). The entire cemetery has a high wrought iron fence & heavy gates that are a tad difficult to move. There's a road inside & you can drive around, but the neighborhood is not great & it's very isolated. Evergreen is a pretty well kept cemetery considering it's age - the latest burial I noticed was 1996 & flowers were on a few graves so someone is doing maintenance. There is overgrowth in a few places around the edges and the older grave sites having that sinking feeling about them. Most stones, especially those from mid-1800's on, are in great shape. The older ones are barely legible and others clearly are missing. There are a places that appeared to be family plots outlined in brick, but no stones are left. Being of Presbyterian descent I am interested in Evergreen because it was originally the "Presbyterian Burying Grounds" - most specifically for Bladensburg Presbyterian Church, Rev. Hugh Conn, presiding minister. This was around the early to mid 1700's. I may not be 100% correct on this: I believe that either James (son of Alexander) or Ninian Beall donated/leased/sold the land to the Church. James Beall left Rev. Conn a yearly sum of 10 shillings in his will. Contributed
by Kathi Hudson
Part II - A Visit on Memorial Day 1998 The town of Bladensburg sponsored a small ceremony on Memorial Day. Rain was in the forcast, but fittingly, the clouds gave way to the sun, and the ceremony proceeded without a hitch. The Mayor and town council members described elements of their plan to restore the cemetery. One area is badly overgrown and is believed to be the location of the graves of numerous "freedmen." The gates were open until noon, and this afforded me the chance to walk through the cemetery and gather some data. I would like to share with you a bit about some of the most interesting stones I found. The first stone is that of Mary Ann Hellregel, born 10/1/1805 and died 9/26/1806. This stone was quite large for an infant (about 3feet tall), and was in remarkable condition. The inscription read:
I found no other graves near Mary Ann's with the same surname. The oldest stone found was that of William Mauduit who died September 7th, 1749. This stone is located in the area encircled by the roadway. It has been chipped on the top and has sunk into the ground, but the engraving is perfectly readable. Several other burials in this area are among the oldest in the cemetery. Another stone of the same reddish stone as the first two stones mentioned above is located in section one of the map below, very near section three. It is inscribed as follows:
Apparently Philip lived his entire life in the Bladensburg area. There are other Miller burials in the cemetery. Finally, the most facinating to me were 3 markers that appeared to be made of cement. The rather crude printing was clearly done before the material was set, and resembles the writing found in sidewalks everywhere. One other common feature about these markers is the the maker had trouble with the diagonal portion of the letter "N." They ran from the bottom left to the top right of the vertical lines. My guess is that the maker of these markers may have offered an inexpensive alternative to a stone marker. That leads me to the assumption that those who contracted with him were probably not wealthy. The first of these cement markers was for: "A.T. QUARLES WAS BORN SEPT 11, 1878 DIED MARCH 18, 1915". The date of death may be incorrect. Dirt completely covered that part of the "stone," and I had nothing with me to clear the area completely. The second and third of these unique markers were together: "GEORGE W. BLADEN DIED JULY 30 1934 AGE 63 AT REST" and "MRS GEORGE ANNA BLADEN BORN MAY 15 1845 DIED MARCH 18 1928" If my original assumption that the persons with the cement markers were not wealthy is correct, then what happenned to the Bladen family? Is it possible that Anna was a slave of the Bladens and Geroge W was her son? I found no other Bladen markers in the cemetery. Below you will find a "map" of the cemetery, and a list of surnames I found in various areas of the cemetery. When I have the opportunity, I will add the information I gathered to the cemetery database. On last piece of data, it is believed that the original Presbyterian Church was located in the overgrown area at the left had edge of the "map" below. Bricks from this church were used in the construction of the Baptist Church. Contributed by Carol
Askey
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[Prince George's County Coordinator: John
M. Scroggins scroggjm@erols.com] |