shiloh-photo

Above you see a 1930 era photo of another A.M.E. Church of some historical import. Founded in 1807 (have seen 1817 as the founding date too) in Westtown Township and eventually called Shiloh. Even earlier than my beloved Ebenezer (1831-1832) on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer East Whiteland (that I have written about since 2013, and most recently on November 12. )

Shiloh the church no longer stands. It also is true history lost because one of the early ministers with a calling to Shiloh was Jarena Lee. She was the first black female preacher in America. She was born a free woman of color in Cape May, NJ originally. Bishop Richard Allen granted her the ability to be a minister in 1819. Jarena’s memoir published in 1849 is eloquent and moving and you can read it online and on this blog:

( religious-experience-and-journal-of-mrs-jarena-lee-1849 )

She’s a pretty cool historical figure.

But back to Shiloh. In a sense, although the church suffered the same fate as Ebenezer we actually know more about it. It seems that the church had a congregation until the 1920s. Then it disappeared over time, I suppose.

But Shiloh’s graveyard, like Ebenezer’s still exists. But unlike Ebenezer which is still church owned land (unless the A.M.E. church can dispute that in writing, given the recent Inquirer article the A.M.E. Church still owns Ebenezer ) , Shiloh’s graveyard now lies on private property. And on that property there are confirmed 7 and believed up to 14 U.S.C.T. veterans buried there. All those black Civil War Soldiers.

I learned about the soldiers at Westtown Day this fall. The historical society folks had a display inside Oakbourne Mansion which fascinated me. It interested me enough that I took the below photo.

So I had received an e-mail from Kelby Hershey from the WCU Student Veterans Center. He is the gentleman who brought all those volunteers to Ebenezer this past Saturday.

Here is what he had to say:

I am Kelby Hershey, a recent History graduate here at WCU. I am currently working with the WCU Student Veterans Group and may have uncovered something that may interest you.

West Chester University Student Veterans Group has taken on an initiative this semester to ensure that the final resting places for 14 local Civil War veterans are no longer neglected and will be properly maintained. We are currently looking for local support. Here is what we know:

On the corner of Shiloh and Little Shiloh road in Westtown there used to stand a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Westtown. Founded in 1807 it was one of the first AME churches in the country. Please read attached article titled “Echoes of Shiloh AME Church” for background. After the congregation moved on in the early 1900’s the building was abandoned and eventually destroyed leaving a large plot of unmarked graves. Within the cemetery continues to lie 7 verified Civil War veterans and at least 7 more probable. We believe there are over 14 veteran’s graves on this property and possibly even a Revolutionary War veteran. The names and units of some of the service members at rest here are attached titled “Shiloh AME Veterans.” I encourage you to look over the names, where they are from, and the units they served in. The property also holds an unknown number of freed slaves’ graves. The property containing the cemetery was acquired by private ownership at some time under uncertain circumstances and the current owner will not allow the public to enter to investigate the cemetery under threat of trespassing. The owner has allowed the property to go overgrown with heavy brush and thorns, refuses to care for the graves, and roughly rebukes all of the township’s efforts to seek resolution.

It is the opinion of the WCU Student Veteran Group that we are currently failing our local heroes, American veterans who have been laid to rest in our back yard without receiving proper honors. It is additionally concerning that the owner will not allow visitors and has not taken responsibility caring for the graves.

In 2014 several concerned citizens, veterans, and local politicians met to discuss our options. The township has had over two years to act and due to lack of public awareness it appears that nothing has been done. You can follow the link below to the 2014 Unionville Times article.

http://www.unionvilletimes.com/?p=23357

So what are our options? There happens to be a Westtown Township Board of Supervisors meeting on the evening of Monday, November 7th that is open to the public, we would like to voice our support here on behalf of local veterans and this historic project. Every hand raised will have an opportunity to voice their support. All comments made will be officially printed in the public meeting’s minutes.

Please attend with us and contact myself with any questions,

Westtown Township Board of Supervisors Meeting
November 7, 7:30-9:00 pm
Westtown Township
1039 Wilmington Pike
West Chester, PA 19382

Thank you very much,

Respectfully,

Kelby Hershey

WCU Student Veterans Center

E: kh835979@wcupa.edu

Wow. That is the same place I heard about on Westtown Day.

shiloh-soldiers– list of soldiers buried there

shiloh-deed – deed of the property

echoes-of-shiloh – a paper about Shiloh

It seems the A.M.E. Church has a lot of these properties – more Ebenezers, more Shilohs, and so on and so forth. Can all be saved? Sadly probably not. But it does make a body wonder how the modern A.M.E. Church is run, doesn’t it? How is it they seemingly do not have as much of a handle of their history and property as the should? And aren’t their laws on the books in PA that should shall we say encourage the church to maintain what it still owns?

Of course this summer, yet another article appeared about yet another A.M.E. graveyard. It was in the Chester County Press and the subject is the ruins of the graveyard in Lower Oxford on Mount Calvary on 154 Bethel Road. It’s complicated but there actually is a church still attached. Somehow over the years it changed it’s name and I guess moved – Allen A.M.E. Church in Oxford on Market Street.

However, Mount Calvary is a story similar to Ebenezer because it was not the A.M.E. Church that started the drive to clean up Mount Calvary. The person responsible is a woman I have come to know recently named Kimberly Boddy. She discovered it while helping a friend research where certain ancestors were buried.

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 (I am not sure it still exists). The Daily Local wrote about an exhibit of Lee Carter’s paintings in Coatesville last year.

Kimberly is a quiet doer, and she carries on the traditions of community service that I believe she learned from her grandfather. (And no, she did not ask me to write or say anything, I chose to because there seem to be all sorts of people trying to save historic graveyards in Chester County.)

Anyway, the Mount Calvary story was one of the things discussed at the Pennylvania Hallowed Grounds Project meeting this fall. Here is the article from this summer:

Chester County Press Volunteers seek to rescue the Mount Calvary Cemetery from poor conditions

07/05/2016 11:39AM, Published by Steven Hoffman

The Mount Calvary Cemetery stands at the intersection of Bethel and Calvary Roads in Lower Oxford and, until very recently, it was largely forgotten.

Kimberly Boddy, a resident of Kennett Square, was helping a friend research some information and learned about the Mount Calvary Cemetery’s existence almost by accident. When she saw that the cemetery was littered with trash, that the gravestones were in a sad state of disrepair, and that weeds had grown uncontrollably in some parts of the small cemetery, she was disheartened. She knew that the 100 or so people who were buried in the cemetery deserved better.

“It broke my heart,” Boddy explained. “This may be an historic piece of ground. This is not just African-American history here, it’s Lower Oxford history.”

The cemetery dates back to 1852. At one time, the Calvary Church stood next to the cemetery, but the church moved. The cemetery itself does not even have a known address, Boddy said. The people buried in the cemetery—with family names like Jones, Moore, or Webster—were most likely members of the Calvary Church before it changed its name to Allen A.M.E. and moved to a location in Oxford Borough. When Boddy learned about the cemetery, she also discovered that some of the people buried in it served their country—including volunteers who died in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II.

But back to Shiloh. People went to the recent Westtown meeting to plead the case of soldiers who have no other voices at this point other than interested strangers. Shiloh was in a local paper in 2014:

Unionville Times : Solutions sought for black soldiers’ final resting place

Sep 30th, 2014

By Kim Chiomento, Staff Writer, The Times

WESTTOWN – At the intersection of Shiloh and Little Shiloh Roads sits a nondescript property with a unique and historically significant past. This same quiet property is currently the subject of a heated debate between its current owner and parties deemed responsible for the care of gravesites and the moral call of many to honor U.S. Veterans.

Monday, a group including two state representatives, veterans affairs and historical advocates as well as local and county officials met looking for options to honor and preserve this final resting place of soldiers from the Civil War and the Revolutionary War.

From approximately 1817 through 1920, this parcel of land was home to the Shiloh A.M.E. Church and cemetery (also commonly known as Westtown Burying Ground.) Shiloh A.M.E. was once a thriving church and its cemetery is believed to be the oldest African American burial ground in Chester County. Today, only prominently posted bright orange “No Trespassing” signage marks the property’s perimeter; while hinting at its importance and the brewing controversy….

The property was acquired by the current owner in 1977; and for approximately 15 years, various Veterans’ affairs groups have sought permission from the owner to enter the property to identify the graves, honor veterans, and provide proper care and maintenance to the gravesites.

To date, all such requests have been rebuffed by the land owner who is currently threatening civil and criminal action against anyone found trespassing.

So I am floored. I had no idea of the Pandora’s Box I was uncovering when I started to write about Ebenezer. Ebenezer keeps introducing me to like minded souls, people interested in the welfare of these departed soldiers, freed slaves, and so on. The history we are all interested in preserving is truly remarkable. And the common denominator keeps coming back to the A.M.E. Church. And the fact that those of us interested in preserving this history aren’t necessarily part of the church.

Thank goodness for groups like the Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds Project as it gives us hope that preservation IS possible. And at the end of the day, we need to respect our dead no matter the race creed or color and especially the soldiers. Those soldiers fought for our freedoms.