Eight years ago yesterday, my husband and I asked a structural engineer who specializes in historic properties (among other things) to look at the ruin of Ebenezer AME on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer/East Whiteland Township. He reviewed the exterior. It’s not safe to go into the ruin – very unstable.
In 2023 I lamented the state of the ruin and said everything had the engineer told me a few years ago now that I passed along to East Whiteland Township and East Whitehead Historical Commission was sadly happening. The walls have never been shored up, and the development going along around it is taking a toll. Time, weather, and circumstances are not friends to this site.
I also had said then that before COVID hit, there was a lady from the National Trust for Historic Places I had connected with who seemed interested. Her name was Lawana Holland-Moore. I have tried following up since, but nothing, not even a reply. (Sigh.) Who knows? Maybe she will see this post and renew her former interest. There are so many historic places and structures at risk, but I just wish this place would matter for more.
Then last year (September, 2023), East Whiteland erected a local historic marker. It made me hopeful. It was at that ceremony that some members of a local AME Church (Mt. Zion AME in Devon, PA) helping out with saving Ebenezer thanked me for my activism efforts over the years. No one had publicly done so ever at that point. Pastor April Martin and Bertha Jackmon. Coming from them that really meant something special to me.
At the recent October 10th, 2024 East Whiteland Township Board of Supervisors meeting, I was also thanked in absentia by the East Whiteland Historic Commission and the Chair of the Supervisors, Scott Lambert, for my efforts dating back to 2013 or so. These comments occurred in the midst of an update I never thought would happen: funding for stabilizing the ruin of Ebenezer has been found between the township and the AME Church. It sounds like the project will start soon.
I couldn’t zoom or attend the meeting, so it was just today I watched the video of the meeting. I literally started to cry when I heard about stabilization becoming a reality. And I admit to being a little misty eyed over being recognized by my township. I am neither thanked nor recognized positively very often. Usually I am chided and berated and more for daring to blog and have opinions.
Ebenezer is very personal to me. When I first moved to Chester County to be with my husband, I quickly became obsessed with the ruins of Chester County. We drove past Ebenezer often. It was overgrown and tumbling down. I thought it was a farmhouse in decay. Then one day when we were headed towards Elverson to see friends, my husband told me to bring my camera and we would stop for a few minutes.
Stopped we did. I still remember walking through the dead weeds to the rear of what I thought was a farmhouse ruin. Then I saw Joshua. I think I held my breath at first. He was a Civil War soldier. Then I started to look in the weeds around some more, and I realized this was a burial ground. Then it hit me: this must be a church ruin. How could people not care?
That was 2013. And that is when I started looking into what I would eventually learn was Ebenezer AME.
The origins of the AME Church go back to the Free African Society which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. Richard Allen was born a slave in 1760 in Delaware. He was owned and then freed by Benjamin Chew, who was a prominent lawyer and Chief Justice of the Commonwealth from 1774-1777.
Ebenezer was a very early AME church, and Bishop Richard Allen was still alive (he died March 1831) when the Quaker, James Malin, probably decide he would deed the land to the AME Church so Ebenezer could be built (June 1831.) Ebenezer is quite literally perhaps the second oldest AME site in the country, except for Mother Bethel AME in Philadelphia. So you can see given the age of Ebenezer AME in East Whiteland, Chester County, PA that it is truly part of the early days of a church and religion founded in Philadelphia. Bishop Richard Allen died in 1831, just months before Ebenezer came to be after Joseph Malin deeded the land. According to the deed transcript, it was for a church and a burial place. My research indicates the first church was built (or finished) by 1835.
Members of this community have been documented as former slaves. Their ability to construct this church demonstrates the prosperity and commitment of this community.
The trustees of the Ebenezer AME church purchased the land in 1831 from James Malin. The oldest gravestones found in the cemetery date from the early 1830’s. The congregation disbanded for a time between 1848 and 1871 during which time the building fell into disrepair. By June 22, 1873 the church had been rebuilt and rededicated. It continued to be used until 1970…Now it is abandoned.
A stone building, dilapidated and crumbling from the outside in, still stands on Bacton Hill Road….The gravestones which surround the building clearly show that it was a church. Nearly all the headstones have fallen downhill and lie, face up crumbling from the wind and rain.
Records show that this church, formerly named the Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church, was built in 1832 on what was originally known as the Yellow Springs Road. A celebrated gospel church, it was regularly attended by Negroes who lived and worked on Bacton Hill. Very few of the lives of these people, who were once a great part of the history of East Whiteland, have ever been chronicled.
Early tax records for Chester County show a listing of “free men”. Actually these “free men” were colored slaves who had been given their freedom from bondage when they reached the age of 38. Later on, the age of freedom was lowered to 23 years of age and finally a state law granted that any person born in the state of Pennsylvania was a guaranteed free man.
The farmers of Valley Hills would often give these free men, after their term of bondage was up, a small plot of land for their own upon the hills in Bacton. On these, the former slaves built small log cabins or stone buildings. Many ran small farms while still working during the day timbering the summit of Bacton Hill and carting lumber down to the Great Valley for the lime kilns.
Think about it: these free and freed men who lived and worked around Bacton Hill built a church, and eventually a stone building was built. In 1989 when the paper was written, 80 graves were documented. When the next Eagle Scout documented graves, I believe he only documented 26. Some of the graves disappeared. Sinking into the murky and often swampy land (several springs are underneath apparently, and there are also interestingly old clay pits somewhere way off to the rear of the graveyard on another property), and it would also sadly not surprise me if other headstones had simply been removed. Yes, people steal from the dead and that includes headstones. That’s why East Whiteland PD has kept an eye on the headstones and grave yard in the past.
Anyway, riots and “disturbances” between 1848 and 1870 caused the church to not be used as much and it apparently fell to ruin the first time. But in 1872 the old church was brought back to life and reopened December 8th, 1872. “Important” clergymen were reported as having been present, and in June of 1873 the church was re-dedicated as Ebenezer African American Methodist Church.
At this point the church remained in use until 1910. Then the church may not have been used again until the 1940s. In the 1940s it was reported to have been some sort of a big thing at the church to celebrate it’s history. It was said people from all over Chester County gathered with “prominent” members of the A.M.E. Church. It is believed that is when the church was electrified. After the church stopped being used, and the woods and swampy marsh grass grew up around it, and a mobile home ended up next to it.
Some of the family names on the gravestones are the same as families still living in Malvern Boroughand in Chester County!
For the past many years at this point, I have been writing about this. I see the importance of this site intertwined with its 184 years of individual history combined with the 200+-year-old history of the AME Church founded by freed slave Richard Allen. (The AME Church as all know celebrated its 200th anniversary this year in Philadelphia.)
The parcel’s 1832 deed of trust transfers ownership of the land from James Malin, a prominent Quaker farmer involved in the Underground Railroad, to three African Americans – “Samuel Davis, Ishmael Ells, and Charles Kimbul” – for the purpose of constructing a church with a burial ground in East Whiteland.
Ebenezer’s floor was a raised platform on stone piers, according to research by archival consultant Jonathan L. Hoppe, for the Chester County Historical Society. Its single room had a door facing the road; opposite was the raised pulpit. The interior walls were covered in wainscoting.
I first photographed Ebenezer in 2013. Then a few more times after that times including in June 2016 when the Inquirer article was in process. Then a second time, October 1, 2016. i placed the Philadelphia Inquirer articles. They are among my favorite articles and Kristin Holmes did an amazing job.
Inquirer reporter Kristin Holmes with former Chair of the East Whiteland Historic Commission and neighbor, Tim Caban. Tim was instrumental in the early days of my ruin obsession. And he has always remained a sounding board and wealth of knowledge.
And we have to speak about Hiram. Hiram Woodyard was a Township resident and former slave who served in the Union Army as a teamster. He was a leader in the African American community and is buried at the Ebenezer AME Church. His home still stands on Congestoga Road. Other homes he built still stand. He was an inhabitant of Bacton Hill.
And we have to talk about friends I made along the way who died before they could see Ebenezer get this far. The late poet A.V. (Ann) Christie and Al Terrell.
Ann I met shortly after I started my vision quest on Ebenezer. She had been battling breast cancer but showed up at my door one day with a boy scout report and the Conestoga Turnpike book written by my friend author, artist, and historian Catherine Quillman who is a true Chester County treasure who shares her knowledge so freely and with an open heart. It is because of Catherine I was able to prove my suspicion that although the property had been abandoned, it really wasn’t and the AME Church and more specifically probably Mother Bethel still owned it.
Ann died in April, 2016. She was so wonderful a human. I actually do have some of her poetry in my personal library. In her obituary story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, John Timpane wrote:
Poet and friend Leonard Gontarek offered a poetic remembrance of Ms. Christie by e-mail: “Like the poet herself, A.V. Christie’s poetry is precise, elegant and generous. In her poems she gives us a model of the universe: If we possess integrity and trust the world, truth will come through. If we know the world deeply enough, we will see the logic of happiness and sorrow. If we listen carefully, we will hear the music coaxed from the dusk and fallen magnolia flowers, the pond, the clouds, and her beloved robins. It will be the music we hear as knowledge becomes wisdom.”
This is a poetry of grace and holy light.
Ann loved Ebenezer, and had at one point lived quite nearby. She grew frustrated with trying to engage people about Ebenezer. She was responsible for organizing and often paying for a few clean ups.
Then I met Al Terrell. He also lived nearby. We became friends after bonding over the same black Civil War Soldiers. He visited Joshua and Hiram too. When and said he was going to get Boy Scouts and volunteers in there to clean up AND would get the AME Church to say OK, I was so glad to hear it, but didn’t hold out much hope. The Boy Scouts were from the Willistown Troop. And there were others. Bible study folks from Al’s bible study and Lee’s Lawn Service. And more. And this was just the beginning. Al threw himself into this the last couple of years of his life. He helped get the Veteran’s Day ceremony November 19th, 2016.
November 19, 2016 is when we held the Veteran’s Day Ceremony at Ebenezer to honor the black Civil War Soldiers there and others. It made front page news of The Daily Local. That was such an emotional day for me at that site, I cried. And I have no ancestors buried there, just my black Civil War Soldier Joshua Johnson whom I discovered one day many, many years ago in a pile of weeds that I thought were surrounding an abandoned farmhouse.
EAST WHITELAND >> During a humble autumn afternoon, a small ceremony paid homage to a long since abandoned graveyard housing African-American Civil War veterans, and others whose names have been lost to time and erosion.
For Bruce Reason and Al Terrell, the sight of the cleaned up Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church cemetery on Saturday was a welcome one.
Reason, 56, of East Whiteland pointed to one of the legible headstones bearing the name of one African-American Civil War veteran, Joshua Johnson, 1846-1916, and said he was related.
“It feels great,” he said about the site of the cleaned up cemetery. “I waited years for someone to come along (and clean up the graveyard).”
The person who came along and led the clean-up effort was Henderson High School sophomore Luke Phayre.
Phayre, a member of the Willistown Boy Scout Troop 78, had been looking for a project to complete so he could become an Eagle Scout….And Terrell, himself a former assistant scoutmaster working on rejoining the troop, suggested to Phayre that he clean up the graveyard as his own son, Andrew did almost two decades earlier.
“I thought it was a great thing to do, to honor the soldiers buried here,” Phayre said. “You couldn’t even see this (gravesite) from the street.”
The gravesite and the ruins of the old church sit alongside North Bacton Hill Road, near where the road intersects with Route 401.
Starting in August, Phayre and other volunteers worked to figure out who technically owns the abandoned property, get permission from the owners, and to clean up the graveyard and crumbling stone church laden with overgrown nature.
His efforts were recognized Wednesday when at 1 p.m., a ceremony led by the commander of the West Chester American Legion Post 134, retired Air Force Capt. Howard Crawford.
The ceremony also served as a way to honor the dead. It included a color guard presentation, gun salute, and memorial prayer.
Members of several different organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Marine Corps League participated in the ceremony. Three East Whiteland police officers were also present.
On that day I do not recall any members of the then East Whiteland Historic Commission or township supervisors, but I will always remember the members of East Whiteland Police Department who showed up to be part of the honor guard and keep the traffic in check…on their own time.
Then things slowed down, and Al Terrell died. I knew that November of 2016 that he knew something was not right with his health but he didn’t speak about it. And then shortly after Christmas that year, Al contacted me and said he wanted me to promise not to ever give up on Ebenezer. He was insistent, and that was not his way. Then one day in January, 2017 when I was sitting in my living room talking with my friend Tom Casey, my phone rang. It was Kimberly Boddy, a wonderful woman I have since lost touch with, but who at the time had helped with research because of other research she was doing.
And Kimberly has a really cool Chester County heritage as she is the granddaughter of the late Lee Carter, who was a self-taught Chester County artist who also had what I think was called the Road To Freedom Museum at one time. The Daily Local wrote about an exhibit of Lee Carter’s paintings in Coatesville in 2015.
I still remember sitting in my living room and saying to Tom, “I can’t believe it. Al can’t be gone.”
Al and I had been talking about trying to get someone with special radar equipment into the graveyard to properly map the graves once and for all those last times we spoke. Ground Penetrating Radar.
I still miss Al. And Ann.
Al in November, 2016 saluting our soldier, Joshua.
Things kind of slowed for a while until new blood and energy on the historic commission reinvigorated them as well as real interest from the supervisors in East Whiteland. Now I will freely admit it has been touch and go with the East Whiteland Historic Commission and me for years. Some people like me, some merely tolerate me, and a couple I have felt quite clearly dislike what they perceive as my interference on their patch so to speak. Then Pastor April Martin and AME historian Bertha Jackmon also had more time for Ebenezer, and now here we are. A historic marker and money for the ruin stabilization. This is a God is Good thing. I spent a lot of years feeling quite despondent about this site, until things started to happen.
I will note that to date I have never ever had a reply to any of the many emails (and some phone calls) sent over time to Philadelphia Mother Bethel’s Mark Kelly Tyler. Shame on him because before Mother Bethel, as one of his callings was Bethel AME in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He has talked a good game in interviews with the Inquirer, etc., but he has apparently never thought humble Ebenezer AME at 97 Bacton Hill Road in Frazer was important enough in spite of the inextricable and irrefutable links to Mother Bethel? Pity. But hey, he’s got his plum now as a newly elected officer of some importance in the AME Church as per the Inquirer this August and allow me to quote with some feeling of irony:
The Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church in Society Hill, was elected as an officer of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) at its General Conference this week in Columbus, Ohio.
He was elected to become one of nine general officers: executive director of the Department of Research and Scholarship and historiographer of the AME Church, which has its headquarters in Nashville.
The election took place on Monday. The Tennessee Tribune posted the results, noting that six new bishops and nine general officers were elected. (There are at least 20 bishops in charge of geographical districts.)
“As I step into the role of historiographer / executive director of the Department of Research & Scholarship of the global AME Church, I find this moment to be bittersweet,” Tyler wrote in a text from Ohio Wednesday afternoon….In an interview earlier this month, Tyler said the new position would require him to resign as pastor at Mother Bethel AME, at 419 S. Sixth St., where he was appointed the church’s 52nd pastor in 2008.
He said he would remain at Mother Bethel for at least two to three months until a new pastor is appointed by the church leadership.
In his new role, he will have two offices, one in Philadelphia and one in Nashville…Tyler said he has always loved history, and he hopes to create a major documentary film about the church, possibly with PBS.
Gosh Rev. Tyler, history? Imagine that. So, a reminder that some of the earliest history of your church is here in East Whiteland Township at 97 Bacton Hill Road in Frazer, as well as elsewhere in Chester County. Maybe now you will have time for those emails? Return phone calls? Sadly I have my doubts, but hey, that’s on you. (And yes I am being deliberately pissy and unapologetically so.)
This won’t be a particularly long post and over the next couple of days I will be going through photos from the sign ceremony to post but today my heart was happy and full of joy.
I love this site, and I love the history it represents, and today I felt hopeful. Today I felt the old souls were pleased… and I could also feel more recent souls who loved Ebenezer whom I knew, Ann Christie and Al Terrell were smiling.
Also something unexpected happened. Today I got a thank you for my contributions to Ebenezer. That is a place that is so special to me, and the thank you was heartfelt. It came from Pastor April Martin and Bertha Jackmon. Coming from them that really meant something special to me. No one really has ever publicly recognized my efforts, and it’s one of those things where no brass band was ever needed, but a simple thank you today meant the world.
My relationship with the East Whiteland Historic Commission doesn’t really exist. I genuinely like a couple of the members and a few members past and present have always been truly really nice to me, and I enjoy speaking with them and knowing them a little bit, BUT I know most of those people do not like me, and a few do not go out of their way to make me feel welcome. And part of the things that have upset me about Ebenezer was trying to talk to them over the years. None of them are bad people, but they are quite cliquish, and not necessarily welcoming to someone like me, or anyone who isn’t their normal person.
Part of what I realized today is I don’t need their approval or permission to love local history. They honestly did a really nice job with the ceremony. Ebenezer’s graveyard is nicely cleaned up. A bunch of stones have fallen over but it’s partially the site itself, and there are new homes being dug around it. The plan is to restore the stones and cap the church ruin which is perfect.
There is a brand new website and fundraising will need to be done for the future and if there are folks who can set up a non profit to help Ebenezer live long into the future visit https://www.historicebenezerbactonhill.org/
It was really nice to visit Hiram and Joshua today too.
Many thanks to Chair of the East Whiteland Supervisors Scott Lambert and Manager Steve Brown for their support of preserving this historic site and for arranging all sorts of things today and East Whiteland PD for making a sometimes busy road behave today.
Again, I will post photos over the next few days. In the future I would like to plant daffodils and snowdrops by the grave stones after they are reset.
I am not trying to be sour grapes here, but when you read this press release disguised as an article embedded below makes you feel like a couple of recent people did everything with regard to the ruin of Ebenezer with no help from anyone else ever. The truth is, there have been a lot of people involved, who should be remembered and thanked.
It’s like a very large village has loved this site and helped and tried to help over the years.
Those of you who know me know that I have worked on this personally for years. I have made publicly available all the information I found and shared loads of photos.
I do not do things like this for atta girls or accolades, but people could say thank you once in a while.
And folks could also say thank you to the families of the late Al Terrell and late Ann Christie as well. And former scout Luke Phayre and his mother, historian Catherine Quillman, Tim Caban former chair of East Whiteland Historic Commission, Theresa Schatz and Susan Evans -former member of East Whiteland Historic Commission, and even Dr. Bill Watson from Immaculata who is always so patient and helpful when you have any questions. There are also all the people who once lived in the area who contributed to the oral histories I posted up and gave me photos to use. Like the artist Claude Bernardin.
Or how about Chester County resident and retired Air Force Colonel Howard Crawford West Chester Veterans Council and commander of the American Legion Post 134 who was instrumental in our Veterans Day ceremony in 2016 on the site? Or Doug Buettner and others over the years who helped clean up the site? Or how about those wonderful East Whiteland police officers who showed up in 2016 to help direct traffic during the Veterans Day ceremony and became part of the honor guard?
Ebenezer is very special to me, even if I am a middle-aged white woman with no relatives in the cemetery.
I am so happy that historical marker is going up here and that there is now a small chance and hope for preservation in the future that lasts. I know that the ruin is too far gone to do anything but stabilize because a few years ago I was the one along with my husband, who had a structural engineer who dealt with historic properties look at it and give a report.
I will attend this ceremony, and I will have a happy heart and a smile on my face, as I am grateful that this is getting some more recognition. But I just want people out there to recognize that there are a lot of people who have cared about this site over the years and helped to the best of their ability.
To get to this point, it’s not just because of recent events, there are years of things behind this and lots of people who cared. Other friends like Christine, Tia, Dana and Keica.
And when I first moved here, East Whiteland Township didn’t truly give a crap about the site. East Whiteland beyond some of the member of the historic commission started to give a damn when Scott Lambert became supervisor. As a matter of fact, when we did the Veterans Day ceremony in 2016, not one supervisor showed up. I remember at the time those of us who worked on that couldn’t believe that. We kept wondering what would it have taken for any of the three supervisors or manager to have shown up even for a few minutes?
I realize I’m like the inconvenient guest at a dinner party because you never know what’s going to come out of my mouth, but I think it’s important to recognize here that a lot of people, not just me, have contributed to saving and trying to save Ebenezer.
If you go to visit this site, I hope you feel all the happy souls like we do when we’re on the site. If you go tomorrow, that is when the marker is being unveiled at 1:30 PM on Bacton Hill Road in East Whiteland.
In 1989, Dan Baker lived in East Whiteland Township and was an Eagle Scout. He adopted Ebenezer, AME and her ruins on Bacton Hill Road for his Eagle Scout project.
Recently, Dan shared via Bertha Jackson, (who is an AME church historian) additional thoughts and a few photos from his project. Both his original project report, and this update are embedded in this post.
In addition, there was a very recent presentation given by my friend Tia Manon at East Whiteland Township. This was part of the presentation. Tia has ancestors buried in the cemetery at the ruin of Ebenezer AME. She still searches for another ancestor named Perry Ringgold/James Williams. He has two names because he was a slave who gained his freedom on the underground railroad. So he started as Perry and ended up as James. Apparently he may have shown up in Mount Pleasant. I said I think the Mount Pleasant section of Wayne in an 1880 census but he’s listed as white so we’re not sure if he was trying to pass or it’s not him.
I can’t even explain to you how it makes my heart happy that other people have taken up the mantle of Ebenezer. Of course, back when I started researching the AME church didn’t really admit that they owned it still, and then research led to the old deed, which apparently has never been changed in Chester County. So the AME church does now seem to acknowledge that they still own this amazing historic resource, which is good. I just wish their national church would maybe recognize this site a little more and help out with local efforts.
Dan Baker photo 1989
Once again baby steps forward. I know some people don’t understand why I love this abandoned site so much. I just do. I still remember the day that I discovered the ruined wasn’t an abandoned farmhouse, but a church and when I saw my Civil War soldier, Joshua.
Then I found recently online drone footage over Ebenezer :
At this week’s East Whiteland Township Supervisors’ meeting the East Whiteland Historic Commission spoke about the ruins and graveyard of Ebenezer A.M.E. at 97 Bacton Hill Road in Frazer. It was nice to hear them talking about doing things I have literally suggested for probably a decade: cleaning up, a historical marker, ground penetrating radar (Dr. William Watson of Immaculata actually suggested it to me) and more like stabilizing and capping the ruin (my husband and I had an engineer look at the site in 2016 when we noticed the walls were bowing on the ruin, and gave the report to East Whiteland.)
I am so truly happy to hear this news, but something was missing from the presentation: any mention of me or the others who have also worked quite hard on this project, including their former chair, Tim Caban or former Eagle Scout Luke Phayre and his mom. (I name a bunch of these other devoted people throughout this post.) I presume that they will do a marker dedication ceremony when they erect the historical marker, and I would hope a lot of us will be invited including family of those who helped who are no longer with us? I ask because sometimes with East Whiteland Historic Commission they seem neglectful of saying thank you to those of us who without their assistance or encouragement actually have helped too. They have not done this all on their own, and neither has the AME Church in Philadelphia or the representative from Mt. Zion AME in Devon, which is blessed to have national historical status (National Register of Historic Places) thanks in great part to my dear friend, Pattye Benson, Chair of the Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust.
The next little video is actually a compilation of photos I took up until November 12, 2016 of Ebenezer AME on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer, East Whiteland Township. What I said on that date which was after a massive clean-up organized by us regular people (not East Whiteland Historic Commission) was as follows:
Ebenezer AME on Bacton Hill Road has been my passion project the past few years as most of my friends know. If my husband hadn’t stopped that winter’s day years ago so I could take photos, I wouldn’t have found my USCT soldier Joshua Johnson.
I wrote about it for three years straight on Chester County Ramblings until things started to click. First with the help of A.v. Christie even as she was battling breast cancer, having the ear of William E. Watson and him making himself available to talk to Christine Kantrowitz and myself, then onto some dynamic ladies including Susan Cook, Kecia Lee, Cathy Taylor-Wentz, Tsuhai Nzinga Fka Tia, Christine Johnson, Catherine C. Quillman , Dana Y Bowles and always truly grateful to Pattye Benson of Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust for encouraging me…and saving the best for last, Al Terrell and those amazing Willistown scouts.
We went from a crazy overgrown site that no one loved to today at Ebenezer in Frazer! Al and Luke’s mom Kathy and Luke and scouts and WCU folks! Look at this and be happy – this is what it means to be an American. This is what it means to honor your history and the dead. This is what it means to honor some of our older veterans – as in from the Civil War.
A shout out to today’s guest star volunteers: WCU Student Veterans Group, WCU Men’s Rugby Club, and two WCU Fraternities, Sigma Epsilon and FIJI. About 50 students total. Kelby Hershey is apparently the super hero at WCU who brought these folks together today for us—and a new grave was discovered!
Thank you everyone for your interest. This is 184 years of history, amazing vibrant and important history, and we are all so thankful that so many are starting to realize it.
~me in 2016
November 19, 2016 is when we held the Veteran’s Day Ceremony at Ebenezer to honor the black Civil War Soldiers there and others. It made front page news of The Daily Local. That was such an emotional day for me at that site, I cried. And I have no ancestors buried there, just my black Civil War Soldier Joshua Johnson whom I discovered one day many, many years ago in a pile of weeds that I thought were surrounding an abandoned farmhouse.
On that day I do not recall any members of the East Whiteland Historic Commission, then township supervisors, but members of East Whiteland Police Department showed up to be part of the honor guard and keep the traffic in check.
We did this ceremony on our own, just a small group of volunteers. I wrote about it :
Through my love of this site, I have met the most amazing people who also loved this site. The late poet A.V. Christie, artist Claude Bernadin and Al Terrell, among others.
Learning about this site has been fascinating.
In 2017 I wrote about a gift of history sent to me by way of South Dakota. It was concerning Hiram Woodyard. He was a freed slave and Black Civil War Soldier who resided in the village of Bacton, “Bacton Hisotric District”, AKA “Bacton African American Community”.
In 1991, Jane Davidson, the then Chester County Historic Preservation Officer certified that one of the houses attributed to him on Conestoga Road as a “County Historic Resource”. She said “The events and activities that have occurred in and around the site form a chronological record of past knowledge that portrays a history of the area.”
The historical information listed in some of the paperwork states:
This resource is part of the Bacton Historic District which is a post-Civil War, Afro-American community. This resource is also connected with Hiram Woodyard who was a prominent member of this community….Due to previous development there is an eminent potential to widen Rte. 401,this threat would negatively impact the integrity of this resource.
In other paperwork, the same author continues:
Hiram Woodyard, one of two leaders in the Bacton African-American community, has become a local folk hero in recent years. While part of the timber industry as a fence maker, he also commanded a great deal of respect for his leadership ability, not only in the community, but also in the Union army.
Bacton Hill is fascinating and rapidly disappearing. That is why it would’ve been important to have had this preserved decades ago as it’s own little historic district.
Anyway people always have many things to say when it comes to how an area gets it’s name. And my friend historian an artist and author Catherine Quillman gave me some answers, I would like to share:
📌”Hey, finally got into the Chester County History Center. Bacton was formerly known as Valley View.
In 1871, a branch of the Reading Rail Co. was proposed and a stockbroker complained it was an unnecessary expense (though the rail line would connect to west Chester and Phoenixville). He complained it would just go through “back towns”.
I think Anselma was on that run, and that had a large creamery so it could hardly be a “back town” and the name stuck for Valley View – it officially became Bacton when the little post office which was once there opened in 1887.”📌
So Bacton came out of “back town“ and not “black town” which someone wrote to me once upon a time that I found a little bit offensive, but almost would’ve been understandable for certain times a century and longer ago.
Catherine also reminded me that this area also may have probably seen activity during the Revolutionary War. After all part of the Battle of the Clouds took place near where they have that “Ship Road Park” (West Whiteland), and other battles and encampments occurred close enough by in other municipalities which border East Whiteland like Tredyffrin.
The African American community at Bacton Hill was definitely significant once upon a time. They worked in the local quarries and worked for the railroad and even farmed where they could (A lot of the land there as you know is both scrubby, wet, rocky.)
So yes the little post office back then was renamed Bacton from Valley View. But people also speak of Pickering Valley railroad, but I am told it didn’t climb the “hill” of Bacton Hill. The story of conductor saying “Blacktown” instead of Bacton is probably more local lore and misremembering than fact.
Another aspect of this area that has never really been adequately studied was its relationship to the Underground Railroad. Because there was one, as some homeowners of historic homes alone 401 can attest.
Anyway that is what I have to share with all of you today about this fascinating topic and I do think it’s fascinating. If any of you have other recollections of the area of Bacton Hill or Ebenezer, I love to hear about these things so leave me a comment and write into the blog. I am also always happy to share old photos of the area.
Someone said to me that the greater Philadelphia region spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on the Revolutionary War and not other parts of our region’s history. To an extent, that is true. I think that’s why things like Duffy’s Cut got buried forever as well. It’s not fun for a lot of people to talk about the inconvenient or even uncomfortable aspects of our own history. And I think as complete a picture as it’s available helps all of us.
Richard Allen (February 14, 1760 to March 26, 1831 was a minister, educator, writer and one of this country’s original, most active, and influential black leaders. In 1794 he founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. This was the first black denomination and independent church in the US. The first actual church opened in Philadelphia in 1794.
Richard Allen was born into slavery on one of the properties of Benjamin Chew as another piece of property because he was a slave. He bought his freedom around 1780 at the age of 20 from a subsequent master named Stokeley Sturgis.
In 1816 the AME church was founded more formally and Allen was elected the first Bishop. He had bee a minister for years prior to this and Mother Bethel in Philadelphia actually first opened her doors to worship around 1794. Bishop Allen organized this religious denomination where freed blacks could worship without racial oppression and where slaves could find dignity and a welcoming place. He worked to literally lift up the black community, also organizing schools to teach literacy and promoting national organizations to develop political strategies. Bishop Allen died the year Ebenezer A.M.E. at 97 Bacton Hill Road in Frazer, PA Chester County opened. Their history, their dead, our country’s history – it is all in this ruin of a church and a cemetery of folks of a local A.M.E. Church founded only 30 some odd years AFTER the entire religious organization was founded and they opened their doors the year Bishop Richard Allen died.
Sociologically learning about and loving Ebenezer has also been fascinating. From people steeped in ignorance asking me literally “Why do you care about an old black church?” to being continually blown off by the modern day AME Church because I am essentially a middle-aged white woman. Maybe I am wrong about that, but that is how it felt.
After the Inquirer article appeared on the ruin of Ebenzer AME in Frazer, I remember I contacted Rev Dr. Mark Tyler of Mother Bethel in Philadelphia via e-email with a few interested folks on the e-mail including local historians.
Three times.
Why email? Because also included was information to help them make an informed decision. I stupidly thought maybe if they could see what we’d been researching, and see photos, they would be interested in working together to clean this place up. Crickets. Not even an acknowledgement I had written.
What I have learned since and from the recent East Whiteland Supervisors’ meeting is they are seemingly coming around, and that’s good. Finally.
But the take away lesson I learned back then is that I am not of their flock and couldn’t do anything for them and when it comes to ANY organized religion, sadly not so unusual, is it?
I really wanted to save this place but over the years I have found myself sad in human kind and thoroughly disgusted. I thought doing God’s work meant you tried to save places like Ebenezer AME. You do it for community, future generations, for ancestors of those living today, for the history and the fact it’s a sacred place, and you do it because it’s the right thing to do.
I did what I could and I stepped away. I have continued to watch Ebenezer mostly from afar. I tried twice to join the East Whiteland Historic Commission.
The first time I tried to join was after an obnoxious comment from a former supervisor years ago that the essence was I only complain, I don’t volunteer. (Yeah I know, let’s forget about all the things I have done to help where I live, but anyway.) At that point in time, I was told by the then historic commission chair that they weren’t sure what this supervisor was talking about because there were no vacancies.
The second time I tried to join, was before COVID. I was actually excited about belonging and did my application and went through the fairly rigorous interview process. Then magically, although I met the criteria, two supervisors seemed to take issue with me being on the historic commission. One even wanted to interview me personally, although he had actually spoken to me before in person. I said o.k. and then COVID hit. This supervisor who had to interview me never even ever contacted me by phone. I didn’t need a neon sign to realize people didn’t want me on the historic commission.
During COVID I tried for a while to participate by virtually attending the historic commission meetings. It felt awkward. But I tried. But then when I realized that two members I really liked were cycling off the commission (the ladies who did the update on the history of East Whiteland and really did not get thanked by the historic commission that I could tell), I decided to bag the whole idea.
So the historic commission in East Whiteland has grown up some since the onset of COVID. They have some new blood, and one now not so new member in particular I find to be quite amazing and knowledgeable and they are lucky to have him on board. And their chairman is a very nice man whom I really do like. But it still feels to me like I wish I could get more from them. For example, other historic commissions and societies locally have created social media presences to engage residents with their own history. I seem to recall offering to help East Whiteland Historic Commission once upon a time to establish a Facebook Page so people could learn about all of the history that is in East Whiteland. Crickets. I also offered alternately to write about historic sites and whatnot if they would simply email me what they wanted to get out there. Crickets.
But now I am somewhat heartened to learn they haven’t abandoned Ebenezer and progress is happening. But they need to remember that quite a few ordinary people over the years have loved Ebenezer and tried to help. So when they do their sign dedication, here’s hoping that invitations, mine included, aren’t lost in translation.
I have written so many posts throughout the past decade, below is just a random selection. Please consider supporting East Whiteland Historic Commission as they try to preserve what’s left of Ebenezer. They actually are doing a newsletter now. I really like it!
Poor Ebenezer. Historically significant as quite literally perhaps the second oldest AME site in the country, except for Mother Bethel AME in Philadelphia. And I believe Mother Bethel’s current Pastor Mark Kelly Tyler knows this as he was in West Chester prior to Philadelphia.
Everything the engineer told me a few years ago now that I passed along to East Whiteland Township and East Whitehead Historical Commission is sadly happening. The walls have never been shored up, and the development going along around it is taking a toll. Time, weather, and circumstances are not friends to this site.
This is so sad. Quite literally an important historical asset, including as part of black history in Chester County. This was part of Bacton Hill. I have been told Bacton Hill was one of the early black settlements and well, most of the history has been bulldozed away, hasn’t it?
Black History Month starts when? February 1st? I would say maybe this February 1st someone will care about the history of Ebenezer and Bacton Hill, but really does it ever happen enough to make a difference? Sadly, no. So all I can ever do is point out further deterioration and prior posts over the years.
Before COVID hit, there was a lady from the National Trust for Historic Places I had connected with who seemed interested. Her name was Lawana Holland-Moore. I have tried following up since, but nothing, not even a reply. (Sigh.) Who knows? Maybe she will see this post and renew her former interest. There are so many historic places and structures at risk, but I just wish this place would matter for more than just an occasional minute.
I also hope that someday the East Whiteland Historical Commission really gets a fire lit under them. I have kind of given up there, I find little point in trying to connect with them at this point. Their chair is very nice, but they have never really been comfortable with me or interested in what I have to say.
At one point I had wanted to volunteer for the commission, but political road blocks came up and COVID happened. I’m not welcome there, and why should I keep trying? At one point I even offered to donate my time to help them photograph historic assets and I helped the former members who updated the History of East Whiteland Book, but they cycled off the commission. Hell, when I contacted a member of the commission last June looking for an update on Ebenezer I never even got a reply from them or anyone so I can take a hint.
But, I still need to remind people that #ThisPlaceMatters . Ebenezer and Bacton Hill are disappearing.
I have not written about the ruin of Ebeneezer AME Church on Bacton Hill Road in East Whiteland for a couple of years now. It’s not my party any longer, and truthfully there are members of East Whiteland’s Historical Commission whom I am sure would prefer I not have an interest in this site. I guess it doesn’t matter that I did a lot of work for this site, some of my friends did a lot of work for this site, and years ago when no one was paying attention I did the placement for the media coverage which was local and regional.
Ebenezer prior to 2022 but after 2012
But I do have an interest in this site. It spoke to me years ago, and today I listened again. In 2016 a structural engineer reviewed this historic site and warned about not addressing the bowing of the longer north and south facing walls. There were also warnings of the use of heavy equipment on and close to site. Well today I got a couple of photos from the road because of what I saw a couple of weeks ago that disturbed me.
The walls are coming down. No, no one is taking them down, the years and years of neglect leave no other option for old walls.
November 13, 2022
I think this is tragic and really upsetting. But it’s not within my power to change it. It is still within the power of the AME Church, unless they have suddenly transferred the property to another entity. I also think East Whiteland Township could try to do a little more.
I asked someone for an update on the site in June and never heard a peep. OK fine, they aren’t interested in conversing with me, but now I am saying I told you so. If they want to preserve any part of the ruling of that church, they need to move a little more quickly. They also need to preserve the graves that are in the graveyard.
Ebenezer represents a heck of a lot of history and there are freed slaves, black Civil War Soldiers, and ancestors of people who still live in the area today. This site deserves respect. Respect just isn’t a historical marker, respect is a better degree of historic preservation. You can read about my coverage of Ebenezer by doing a search on this site or CLICK HERE.
The screenshot is from a photo posted on the East Whiteland Fire Co. website. It says Bacton Hill Road?
Someone a while back asked me about Bacton Hill. I don’t remember who exactly so I’m putting this in a post and putting it out there.
When we think of Bacton Hill, we think of Bacton Hill Road. But it actually used to be more than just the name of the road. It was an entire community.
Historically speaking, it was a significant an early free black settlement in Chester County. Which is why in my opinion along with Ebeneezer AME it should have always been in a historic district.
In 2017 I wrote about a gift of history sent to me by way of South Dakota. It was concerning Hiram Woodyard. He was a freed slave and Black Civil War Soldier who resided in the village of Bacton, “Bacton Hisotric District”, AKA “Bacton African American Community”.
In 1991, Jane Davidson, the then Chester County Historic Preservation Officer certified that one of the houses attributed to him on Conestoga Road as a “County Historic Resource”. She said “The events and activities that have occurred in and around the site form a chronological record of past knowledge that portrays a history of the area.”
The historical information listed in some of the paperwork states:
This resource is part of the Bacton Historic District which is a post-Civil War, Afro-American community. This resource is also connected with Hiram Woodyard who was a prominent member of this community….Due to previous development there is an eminent potential to widen Rte. 401,this threat would negatively impact the integrity of this resource.
In other paperwork, the same author continues:
Hiram Woodyard, one of two leaders in the Bacton African-American community, has become a local folk hero in recent years. While part of the timber industry as a fence maker, he also commanded a great deal of respect for his leadership ability, not only in the community, but also in the Union army.
Bacton Hill is fascinating and rapidly disappearing. That is why it would’ve been important to have had this preserved decades ago as it’s own little historic district.
Anyway people always have many things to say when it comes to how an area gets it’s name. And my friend historian an artist and author Catherine Quillman gave me some answers, I would like to share:
📌”Hey, finally got into the Chester County History Center. Bacton was formerly known as Valley View.
In 1871, a branch of the Reading Rail Co. was proposed and a stockbroker complained it was an unnecessary expense (though the rail line would connect to west Chester and Phoenixville). He complained it would just go through “back towns”.
I think Anselma was on that run, and that had a large creamery so it could hardly be a “back town” and the name stuck for Valley View – it officially became Bacton when the little post office which was once there opened in 1887.”📌
So Bacton came out of “back town“ and not “black town” which someone wrote to me once upon a time that I found a little bit offensive, but almost would’ve been understandable for certain times a century and longer ago.
Catherine also reminded me that this area also may have probably seen activity during the Revolutionary War. After all part of the Battle of the Clouds took place near where they have that “Ship Road Park” (West Whiteland), and other battles and encampments occurred close enough by in other municipalities which border East Whiteland like Tredyffrin.
The African American community at Bacton Hill was definitely significant once upon a time. They worked in the local quarries and worked for the railroad and even farmed where they could (A lot of the land there as you know is both scrubby, wet, rocky.)
So yes the little post office back then was renamed Bacton from Valley View. But people also speak of Pickering Valley railroad, but I am told it didn’t climb the “hill” of Bacton Hill. The story of conductor saying “Blacktown” instead of Bacton is probably more local lore and misremembering than fact.
Another aspect of this area that has never really been adequately studied was its relationship to the Underground Railroad. Because there was one, as some homeowners of historic homes alone 401 can attest.
Anyway that is what I have to share with all of you today about this fascinating topic and I do think it’s fascinating. If any of you have other recollections of the area of Bacton Hill or Ebenezer, I love to hear about these things so leave me a comment and write into the blog. I am also always happy to share old photos of the area.
Someone said to me that the greater Philadelphia region spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on the Revolutionary War and not other parts of our region’s history. To an extent, that is true. I think that’s why things like Duffy’s Cut got buried forever as well. It’s not fun for a lot of people to talk about the inconvenient or even uncomfortable aspects of our own history. And I think as complete a picture as it’s available helps all of us.
I was close with what the screenshot is you see at the top of this post. While I was looking for my things on Bacton Hill and Ebenezer I came across this marvelous photo that came out of the East Whiteland Fire Company archives. I don’t have an exact date, but it is always been common practice for fire companies to get their squad practice in by burning dilapidated structures. Is this Ebenezer? I want it to be. It’s just interesting to note that if hindsight was 20/20, would they have chosen to do that knowing the history of the area? I don’t think so.
A reader sent the next screenshot with the following note:
“This is Bacton Hill chapel. The fire was set to provide a drill for the Upper Main Line firefighters association. Summer 1961. My family attended Bacton Hill Chapel in the 1950’s. The new Bacton Hill Church was on Yellow Springs Road. I believe It was destroyed by fire in the late 60’s early 70’s.”
So was there another church or chapel on Bacton Hill Road and if so where?
Thanks for stopping by! This chapel that looks like Ebenezer adds another layer to the community of Bacton Hill, doesn’t it?
The farmhouse demolished a couple of years ago on Bacton Hill Road for development of houses yet to be built.
One of my favorite bits of Chester County, which is in my opinion completely under recorded and insufficiently remembered for what it represents is the area in Frazer, East Whiteland, Chester County known as Bacton Hill. That is where my favorite ruin, Ebenezer AME is located on Bacton Hill Road. Ebenezer was a very early AME church, and Bishop Richard Allen was still alive when the Quaker, James Malin, deeded the land to the AME Church so Ebenezer could be built. The origins of the AME Church go back to the Free African Society which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. Richard Allen was born a slave in 1760. He was owned and then freed by Benjamin Chew.
Ebenezer on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer (East Whiteland) is a sacred and historic place. It’s no secret I have written about this place for years.
As referenced above, the AME Church grew out of the Free African Society in the late 1700s, but the church became it’s own entity founded in Philadelphia around 1816. So you can see given the age of Ebenezer AME in East Whiteland, Chester County, PA that it is truly part of the early days of a church and religion founded in Philadelphia. Bishop Richard Allen died in 1831, just months before Ebenezer came to be after Joseph Malin deeded the land.
Hiram Woodyard was a Township resident and former slave who served in the Union Army as a teamster. He was a leader in the African American community and is buried at the Ebenezer AME Church. His home still stands on Congestoga Road. Other homes he built still stand. He was an inhabitant of Bacton Hill.
Without active preservation there will come a time that all which will be left of the area will be my blog posts including this one from 2017 which is an oral history complete with some really cool photos courtesy of Claude Bernadin, or this one from 2015, this one from 2016, this one from 2017, the ceremony November 2016, a post from October 2016, another one from October 2016, when for brief moment people stopped to visit the old souls now covered by weeds and brush once more, 2015 post which had links to earlier posts. Also what will survive will be the occasional newspaper article from every newspaper reporter who tried to raise awareness to this area and to Ebenezer.
Once upon a time people tried to get a Bacton Hill Historic District or something like that. It’s a shame it never happened. Because at least then there would have been a more organized history of the place. (See Juneteenth post for more.)
Bacton Hill was an early freed black settlement and not just important in Frazer, East Whiteland, but Chester County. It has always been of historic import, yet it never made it to a historic district.
These photos are courtesy of Claude Bernadin
Today I am sharing some memories of Bacton Hill from former resident, Mark Lanser. He grew up with artist Claude Bernadin, whose memories and photos I shared before.
Here is Mark in his own words:
📌Just wanted to share a bit of my memories growing up on Bacton Hill. I am not sure of what be of interest. I have memories which some may be bit fuzzy but I believe they are mostly intact.
We : my parents Richard & Norma and my 4 brothers Rick, Chris, Scott & Elliott. I was number two son between Rick & Chris. The area before Rt. 202 was built was relatively quiet. I traveled around the area with Claude Bernardin collecting bottles.
I also had a paper route for the daily local news when I was 12 (1967). One of my customers was Mary Cain. Their original home was their farm at the intersection of Bacton Hill & Spring Valley roads. I remember when Mrs. Cain turned 100. She eventually lived to be 108. I think her son was named John (?) Don’t remember her daughter in law’s name. Her son died in his 80’s before his mom. They told me that she was the last proprietor of the Bacton General Store. That was the residence of Barry & Judy Love at the time. It is located on Bacton Hill (401) almost directly across from Bacton Hill Rd. It is literally just several feet off the road. They told me of a time in the late 1920’s when 5 people froze to death in a blizzard out side the farm in a snow drift. At the time they were telling me this they were living on Spring Valley Road a few hundred yards west of Bacton Hill Rd.
I think that the town itself lasted until the Second World War and then lost the post office. My recollection was the general store was built in 1810. Our house midway up the hill was supposedly built in 1732 but the date stone had been removed from the second floor so I never confirmed that.
I was told by Miss Hopper who lived in the log cabin next to us to our west that it was built in 1704. Then was the tavern the next house up just above Spring Valley Road. My recollection was the date stone there was 1765. In regards to the tavern Mr. Cain said the “colored folk” (Mr. Cain’s description back then no offense meant) had some gatherings that went late into the night and were quite lively.
Please let me know if this is of any interest. I am obviously not a writer but I could share some more details about Elwood that Claude wrote about , Miss Hopper, & the cave among others as I can recall them.📌
The oral histories of an area are as important as the historical facts and recorded historical activities. For example, I heard at one time it was rumored adjacent to the trail where there are office suites at Swedesford Road and Bacton Hill Road there were possibly remains of Revolutionary War Soldiers at one time. But there is nothing documented that I can find so it might not be true. But given the age of the area and the documented historical sites all around, could it be possible? Sure. And that’s another thing where I wonder if people have memories of finding arrowheads, or other little relics?
Bacton Hill today is nothing like people remember even only back to the 1960s and 1970s. Because it’s not a preservation area, structures come down. Like what I knew as the old green farmhouse which will be the last photo here on this post today, as well as the first photo. A lot of the road feels industrial today, which were not the origins, it’s just how it evolved .
There are a smattering of homes on and off Bacton Hill Road up near the intersection with Conestoga Road or Route 401 which still exist. Most of the truly old homes that have stood since the 18th and 19th century are on Conestoga Road. And they are lovely. I love that they endure in spite of all that is torn down around them.
As a blogger, if there is something I can give to this area, it’s bits of the history of individuals who lived there. I am also interested in the history of the black settlement which once existed because that’s so historically important vis a vis Ebenezer AME. If you have anything to add, or tales to tell, historical photos, old area photos, either on Bacton Hill, what was once the village (general store, post office, etc), or close by on 401/Conestoga Road, I am happy to listen and view the photos.
Ebenezer on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer (East Whiteland) is a sacred and historic place. It’s no secret I have written about this place for years.
The AME Church grew out of the Free African Society in the late 1700s, but the church became it’s own entity founded in Philadelphia around 1816. So you can see given the age of Ebenezer AME in East Whiteland, Chester County, PA that it is truly part of the early days of a church and religion founded in Philadelphia. Bishop Richard Allen died in 1831, just months before Ebenezer came to be after Joseph Malin deeded the land.
Hiram Woodyard was a Township resident and former slave who served in the Union Army as a teamster. He was a leader in the African American community and is buried at the Ebenezer AME Church. His home still stands on Congestoga Road. Other homes he built still stand. He was an inhabitant of Bacton Hill.
Without active preservation there will come a time that all which will be left of the area will be my blog posts including this one from 2017 which is an oral history complete with some really cool photos courtesy of Claude Bernadin, or this one from 2015, this one from 2016, this one from 2017, the ceremony November 2016, a post from October 2016, another one from October 2016, when for brief moment people stopped to visit the old souls now covered by weeds and brush once more, 2015 post which had links to earlier posts. Also what will survive will be the occasional newspaper article from every newspaper reporter who tried to raise awareness to this area and to Ebenezer.
Once upon a time people tried to get a Bacton Hill Historic District or something like that. It’s a shame it never happened. Because at least then there would have been a more organized history of the place.
So this Juneteenth, I was thinking of Ebenezer again and here are a few new photos scattered throughout this post. I remember the black civil war soldiers here and elsewhere throughout Chester County. I share again the oral history of one resident (CLICK HERE). I think of all of the people who have shared what they have discovered about Ebenezer over the years.
Juneteenth (on June 19) is know as Emancipation Day and also as Freedom Day, Jubilation Day, and Liberation Day. I never learned about this important day in any history class I took in school. Which is something I think needs to be rectified because it’s part of our history of this country.
Although Juneteenth is celebrating the end of slavery in the United States, it was still legal and practiced in two states – Delaware and Kentucky – until December 6, 1865, when ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished non-penal slavery nationwide.
We don’t know when exactly Hiram Woodyard was emancipated or freed, do we? His house is supposed to be a historic resource too isn’t it?
On Fold3, there exist some records of Hiram, including voluntary army enlistment. These photos aren’t the best but here they are:
Someone has been cutting the grass again at Ebenezer. I don’t know if it is the developer who will be building houses all around it or someone else. It’s not the AME church. They need to become involved as we believe that this is STILL their land, but will they?
I am but a middle-aged white woman. I am not black and won’t pretend I understand the black experience. I try to learn and respect it. But given the state of racism in this country and the need for all Americans to learn more of this country’s history good and bad, to me, this also means we need to SAVE sites like Ebenezer and preserve their history.
So I am calling on officials state, local, county, federal, and from the AME church to save Ebenezer. The church is too far gone to save BUT capping and preservation of the church ruin is possible. We need a study including with that sonar stuff like they use for Duffy’s Cut to map out where all of the graves are and what stones may lie beneath the dirt.
Officials also need to remember and properly notate the Bacton Hill area because it was a well settled free black community once upon a time. This needs to be done because otherwise this will all sink as a footnote to history that will be forgotten.
