Locust Grove Cemetery – Shippensburg, PA

Locust Grove Cemetery is a historic African American cemetery located in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Five years ago the Locust Grove Cemetery committee started a project designed to restore the site, which includes the remains of twenty six Civil War veterans. These men served in a number of different regiments, such as the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. One can read short profiles of all these veterans in a walking tour guide prepared by Steven Burg’s Theory and Practice of History Class at Shippensburg University, Spring 2008. (Download this guide as a PDF – right click and select “save link as” to download). There is also an article about the cemetery available in a recent issue of Cumberland County History (see Steven B. Burg, “Shippensburg’s Locust Grove Cemetery: A Window on Two Centuries of Cumberland County’s African-American History.” Cumberland County History, vol.26 (2009).  It is worth the time.  As Burg explains, this cemetery

“…is a remarkable place. It is a simple country cemetery, but just walking its grounds one is struck by the sheer number of white, marble Civil War tombstones. There are few other places in Central Pennsylvania that offer stronger testament to the long history of African Americans in the region, or the rich contributions African Americans have made in service to the nation.”

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