Harris Free Cemetery
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Harris Free Cemetery

Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA

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  • Get directions 17th st. and Arsenal blvd., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
    Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17103 United States
    Coordinates: 40.27818, -76.86970
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Harris Free Cemetery was established in 1857, as a free burial ground for the Black People of Harrisburg and Lower Paxton Township. The land was deeded to The Trustees of Harris Free Cemetery from the Henry Herr Estate, near what is now called "the old arsenal," and what was the Insane Asylum.
There was no regular caretaker at Harris Free Cemetery, and most interments were conducted by the family members of the deceased, without any charge. Harris Free Cemetery was desecrated by soldiers in the 1870s, and although the State Legislature passed funds for recovery more than a decade later, the funds were never released.
After a widely-published scandal involving shallow graves being dug up by dogs in the late 1880s, the trustees of Harris Free Cemetery put the grounds up for sale. However, as late as the 1960s when the Commonwealth purchased one of the last remaining portions of the cemetery that had not previously been taken through eminent domain, the land was still referred to as Harris Free Cemetery in the transfer of deed.
Notices of re-interment have not been found.
Harris Free Cemetery was established in 1857, as a free burial ground for the Black People of Harrisburg and Lower Paxton Township. The land was deeded to The Trustees of Harris Free Cemetery from the Henry Herr Estate, near what is now called "the old arsenal," and what was the Insane Asylum.
There was no regular caretaker at Harris Free Cemetery, and most interments were conducted by the family members of the deceased, without any charge. Harris Free Cemetery was desecrated by soldiers in the 1870s, and although the State Legislature passed funds for recovery more than a decade later, the funds were never released.
After a widely-published scandal involving shallow graves being dug up by dogs in the late 1880s, the trustees of Harris Free Cemetery put the grounds up for sale. However, as late as the 1960s when the Commonwealth purchased one of the last remaining portions of the cemetery that had not previously been taken through eminent domain, the land was still referred to as Harris Free Cemetery in the transfer of deed.
Notices of re-interment have not been found.

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  • Added: 9 Feb 2022
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2746625