Cemetery

Archaeologists have found evidence of a cemetery and Colonial-era residence at this spot.
Image:  Archaeologists created this map of grave shafts found here.

What did archaeologists find here?
Archaeologists found faint imprints of the bottoms of 16 grave shafts as well as traces of an adjacent Colonial-era residence. This cemetery likely was associated with that residence. Unfortunately, much of the evidence has been lost to severe erosion. Please treat burial sites with respect.

Image above: SERC Director Tuck Hines and Heather Roche of Bay Area Recovery Canines at the site of a potential cemetery. Roche’s dogs led archaeologists to the site. (Courtesy of Christine Dunham)

How do archaeologists find cemeteries?

Human-remains detection dogs are currently the best method to identify grave locations over a large area.

These specially trained dogs have a remarkable ability to detect human remains, even when those buried remains are hundreds of years old.

The topography and location can also provide clues to potential cemetery sites, although erosion has reshaped the landscape over the years.

Image below:Archaeologists excavate the site of the cemetery.

Segregated Cemeteries
The Sellmans and their African American slaves and servants were segregated in death as well as in life: they were buried in separate cemeteries. 

We know that hundreds of enslaved people lived and worked on the Sellmans’ plantation and the neighboring Java plantation, but we do not know where they are buried. Archaeologists are using cutting-edge techniques, including ground-penetrating radar and human-remains detection dogs, to help solve these mysteries.

Above image: Between 2014 and 2017, archaeologists at President George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate located more than 60 grave shafts in the slave cemetery. (Courtesy of TiMike/Wikimedia Commons/Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0)
Right image: A sign marks the site of a historic African American cemetery in nearby Davidsonville, Maryland. (Courtesy of F. Robby/hmdb.org)