Paved Over African American Cemetery

 Laurel Cemetery opened in 1852 as the first non-religious cemetery for Baltimore’s African-American community. Many well-known black individuals were buried there, but in 1950 the cemetery was moved. Paved over, a shopping mall was built on top of the original cemetery.

Representative Photo

But a question remains - are there still bodies buried beneath the shopping mall?

Ron Castanza, a professor at Baltimore College, set out to find answers. He applied for permission to dig in the grassy area where the shopping mall sat. Over time, the team found two headstones without names. They found bones and the metal handles and nails of coffins.

Read the full story at Rediscovering the African-American graveyard beneath a Baltimore shopping center