DC park to honor more than 8,000 people buried there in the 19th century

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Every day people, pets and wildlife enjoy Walter Pierce Park. Most have no idea about its history.

Mary Belcher, who has lived in Adams Morgan for thirty years, hopes to change that. Belcher tied herself to the park twenty years ago when the city wanted to build on a former burial ground from the 1800s.

“It spans National Parks Service, city land and National Zoo land. It’s as far as the eye can see," said Belcher, who showed WUSA9 the area where a Quaker cemetery and an African American cemetery sat on seven acres.

Belcher became an expert on the park and a driving force behind new signage here honoring the people laid to rest.

“We were able to document 8,428 names and that is what you see on the signs," said Belcher. The signage replaces headstones that disappeared in the early 1900s.

Belcher says a project like this almost didn’t happen. Almost 20 years ago, her and some fellow volunteers had to fight the city to keep these people’s names alive.

“A lot of us were very, very convinced that there were still graves here. We couldn’t prove it," said Belcher. "What we wanted from the city was to allow Howard University a scientific study of the site without any digging, just to document anything that was left of the cemetery.”

Those scientists found evidence of graves and the city backed off from its construction project.

“It really is more meaningful than an apology or a little letter saying sorry we destroyed the cemetery,' said Belcher. "The project, by the way that the city was going to undertake that would’ve destroyed graves, never happened.”

Belcher hopes this park becomes a place of connection and thinks it could inspire others across the country to save Black cemeteries.

“We hope we can set an example, short of engraving names in a wall, that will make it practical for people to have their cemeteries reconnected to the present," said Belcher.

The signage will be officially unveiled on Sept. 7.