Bermuda: Burial Ground for Slaves and Free Blacks - St. George

Burial Ground for Slaves and Free Blacks

St. George, Bermuda

N 32° 22.891 W 064° 40.672

Short Description: 

The burial ground for slaves and free blacks is located at the far western side of the grounds of St. Peter's Church in St. George, Bermuda.

Long Description:

St. Peter's Church in St. George, Bermuda is believed to be the oldest continually used Anglican church in the Western hemisphere. The original wooden church built 1612 was destroyed in a storm and replaced by the present church. The church was extended in 1713 and the clock tower was added in the 19th century.

Outside is a churchyard cemetery with a wall separating two graveyards. A walled area to the far west of the church was for slaves and free blacks while the one east of the wall was reserved for whites. The graveyard for slaves and free blacks is a significant site on the African Diaspora Heritage Trail of Bermuda which traces the legacy of Bermuda's slavery.

In 1698, St. George had a population of 1,124, one-third of whom were blacks who were mostly brought in from Africa as slaves. As the blacks converted to Christianity they became entitled to Christian burials. In the latter half of the 17th century the existing graveyard was extended to the west for the burial of both slaves and free blacks.

A bronze plaque on the wall on the left side of the entrance to the burial ground is inscribed:

BURIAL GROUND

FOR SLAVES

AND FREE BLACKS

PLAQUE ERECTED IN 1997 BY

THE ST. GEORGE'S CRICKET CLUB.

A bronze plaque on the wall on the right side of the entrance to the burial ground identifies it as an official UNESCO Slave Route Site. The central part of the plaque depicts a black family, a mother, father and two children walking hand in hand between a palm tree and a deciduous tree and above a stone wall. The plaque is inscribed:

THE BERMUDA DIASPORA HERITAGE TRAIL

{Globe With Bermuda Greatly Enlarged}

BERMUDA

OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED A UNESCO

SLAVE ROUTE PROJECT

St. Peter's Church

GRAVEYARD FOR SLAVES

AND FREE BLACKS

For nearly two Hundred years this

western extension of the 

church's graveyard

was the burial ground for the enslaved

or free Blacks of St. George Parish.

The burial ground stamp was issued by Bermuda in 2010 as part of a set of four stamps depicting sites on the UNESCO African Diaspora Heritage Trail. The stamp showing the UNESCO plaque was issued in by Bermuda in 2012 as part of a set of four stamps issued to commemorate the 400th anniversary of St. Peter's Church.