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In the mid-nineteenth century they accompanied the
James Steptoe Langhorne
family to "Langdale," a "plantation" encompassing the area where the tiny mountain community
of Meadows of Dan, Virginia,
is located today. The Langhorne family owned thousands
of acres in the area prior to the Civil War.
According to the
will
of Henry Scarsbrook Langhorne, his son
James Steptoe Langhorne had already been given five slaves prior to
his father's death. They
were: Robinson and his wife Vestey, George (a man),
John
(a boy) and Page (a girl). After the Civil War, the
1870 Census reveals
that Ira Langhorne and his wife Page and their two children, Mary
and Ellis, were living
next door to the James Steptoe Langhorne family.
Little is known about the Langhorne slaves, or even their exact
number, but two facts are certain; they were African-Americans and
this meadow is the final resting place of some of them.
The Langhorne family obviously thought highly of these people because they specified that they be buried in the Langhorne family section of the Meadows of Dan Baptist Church
Cemetery.
However, nearly seventy-five years ago, when the Blue Ridge Parkway was
built, the National Park Service acquired that portion of the cemetery
where the slaves are buried. The Langhorne family graves are
on church property beneath the shade of a tall poplar tree immediately adjacent to Parkway
property.
If you were standing in the shade of this old tree today, however, you would not see
any evidence of the slaves' graves, only the little mountain church on a small hill with its
tall white steeple and
well-kept cemetery. Separating the cemetery and the Parkway is a small meadow, covered in
summer by waist-high orchard grass that sways gently in cool mountain breezes.
Buried in this picturesque mountain setting, is not only the Langhorne
slaves but the symbolic remnants of African-American history in the Blue Ridge.
These pioneers have passed into the oblivion of
time unknown, their lives and contributions all but forgotten. They lived without benefit of freedom and now in death they face eternity without the final human dignity of a simple stone marker to acknowledge their
lives. Old man Matt Burnett, told me about the graves before he died and recalled why there were no markers. During the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway the markers, which were just simple stones, were carried into the woods at the edge of the
meadow to
"get them out of the way” during construction. The intent was to put them back when they were finished but no one ever got around to it.
Shortly after hearing about these unmarked slave graves in 1984, I approached Gary Everhart, who was then
Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, about the possibility of placing a granite marker on the site to commemorate not only the people buried there but to honor the
overall African-American contribution to Blue Ridge history. Mr. Everhart agreed, provided I could raise the funds necessary to erect the monument and prepare the site.
The monument I envisioned was a single granite boulder between six and eight feet high, left rough and unpolished to symbolize the rugged life, hardships and
quiet endurance of those it would commemorate. However, efforts to raise the necessary funds met with no
success.
I feared then, and still fear now, that unless something is done before long, the replacement of the
gravestones or the erection of a monument
may never happen. With that in mind, on June 12, 2001, I wrote a
letter to Daniel W. Brown, who succeeded Gary Everhart as superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and asked the National Park Service to assist in getting the gravestones replaced.
After all, National Park Service employees removed the gravestones during
Parkway construction and it only seems right that the National Park
Service shoulder the burden of replacing the monuments.
I was pleased to receive a prompt and encouraging
email reply from Gordon Wissinger,
Chief Ranger, of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and later
met with Mindy DeCesar, District Interpretive Specialist and was very
hopeful that finally action would be taken to restore The Slave Meadow
gravestones. Unfortunately, that was almost nine years ago and the
gravestones have still not been replaced nor a monument erected.
If you are an educator please tell your
students, if you are a minister please tell your congregation. Individuals, please tell your
family, friends and co-workers and encourage their support of this effort. Let's put
our hope together and encourage the National Park Service to do the right
thing. A monument in this meadow
would serve as a reminder
to generations that the pioneers of our nation were of all
races, the rich and the poor, the free and the slave. See
Chronological list of Correspondence and Actions
Return to The Slave Meadow |
The Slave Meadow Photo Album
Please TAKE ACTION
to support this
effort.
Note: From July, 2001 until March, 2010 we used a form for
readers to voice their support. This form was sent directly to Blue
Ridge Parkway officials.
In March, 2010 we switched to the TAKE ACTION form above because it
sends a note of your support to the President and members of Congress.
We continue to offer a form
for you to send us comments for inclusion on the "Read Supporters Comments"
page. We welcome and appreciate your comments and support of this
effort. |
