5405-5485 Lambert Town Road
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Last updated on September 4, 2024
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Directions from Rocktown History to site 18:
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The Spring Creek Negro Cemetery is located in the area a former African American community referred to as Briery Branch. A free African American man, George Washington, brought land in Briery Branch in Western Rockingham County. Washington was a U.S. Colored Infantry veteran who had been living in Staunton, Virginia. Over time, a school, and church with a graveyard were established in the growing community. The community is recorded in the Lake’s Atlas for 1885 and in the Showalter’s Atlas of 1939.
The Spring Creek Negro Cemetery is a historic black cemetery. The origin year of the cemetery needs to be clarified, but it was affiliated with a Methodist Episcopal Church and is cleaned by volunteers sparsely. There is no definite number of burials that includes unmarked graves. A survey done in 2008 documents 18 marked graves. Further research for this site needs to be conducted. This cemetery is the resting place for local African American individuals and should be preserved and respected.
In September 2021, a group of volunteers from United Way helped clean the cemetery and had this to say: “Spring Creek Negro Cemetery is a historically Black cemetery and the final resting place for Lt. Leon Byrd, the first Black officer to serve the Harrisonburg Police Department. Volunteers will be asked to remove overgrown grass and brush from the space and clean up the site. HPD is working to get this area cleaned and eventually bring this cemetery back where it is visible and can be visited.
The Spring Creek Negro Cemetery is a historic black cemetery. The origin year of the cemetery needs to be clarified, but it was affiliated with a Methodist Episcopal Church and is cleaned by volunteers sparsely. There is no definite number of burials that includes unmarked graves. A survey done in 2008 documents 18 marked graves. Further research for this site needs to be conducted. This cemetery is the resting place for local African American individuals and should be preserved and respected.
In September 2021, a group of volunteers from United Way helped clean the cemetery and had this to say: “Spring Creek Negro Cemetery is a historically Black cemetery and the final resting place for Lt. Leon Byrd, the first Black officer to serve the Harrisonburg Police Department. Volunteers will be asked to remove overgrown grass and brush from the space and clean up the site. HPD is working to get this area cleaned and eventually bring this cemetery back where it is visible and can be visited.
