A roughly one-acre site in Elmhurst, Queens that is facing foreclosure is drawing renewed calls for preservation because of its history as a burial ground for free Black residents dating to the early 1800s.
The property is valued by Zillow at $10 million, but local leaders and community members say its significance extends far beyond its market value.
“200 years ago, before all these homes and streets were here, the land below our feet was a cemetery. Specifically, it was the burial ground for up to 300 free Black slaves,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said.
According to community leaders, the site dates to the early 1800s and a community called Newtown. The land was owned by the United African Society of Newtown and is now associated with St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church.
“One year after the full emancipation of slavery in New York for colored men, John Peterson, George Durling, John Coles, and John Carter Page purchased over an acre of land from John and from William and Jane Hunter for $80. $80 was a lot of money back then,” said Rev. Kim Detherage of St. Mark AME Church of Jackson Heights.
On Friday, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion to intervene in the foreclosure proceeding, saying, “we are going to court to make sure whoever buys this property knows exactly who is buried there and is aware of their legal obligation to protect them.”
Under a New York law passed in 2023, it is illegal for property owners to disturb human remains until identifying and notifying descendants and culturally affiliated groups.
Council Member Shekar Krishnan said preserving sites such as the burial ground is critical to protecting neighborhood history.
“What we are seeing all over the city, which is why we in the Council have been so determined to make sure that our community’s histories are preserved and told we are seeing the erasure of really important and sacred sites, and every neighborhood can tell those stories,” Krishnan said.
The site’s history came into sharper focus in 2011 when the fully mummified remains of Martha Peterson were discovered in an airtight iron casket during construction.
Queens historians later learned that the United African Society merged with the AME Church in 1908 and moved to Jackson Heights. In the 1920s, the city confiscated part of the property through eminent domain. Community leaders say the cemetery was later de-mapped by a former borough president.
“The A was intentionally lost. Absolutely. And that was a city policy decision made in 1930’s,” Richards said.
Local leaders are urging the city to purchase the property out of foreclosure and designate it as a historic landmark.
“We respectfully ask the city to acquire this property and turn it over to the parks department, so it could be converted into a green space that would serve as a memorial to the people buried here,” Grace Kim of the U.S. House of Representatives said.
Supporters say preserving the property would both protect the burial site and create a memorial honoring those buried there.
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