As Rosanne Hynes peered out her condo
window, she saw a young man in the middle of the abandoned African American graveyard.
All of the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex of Alexandria, on the south side of
Old Town near the Beltway, is essentially in Hynes’ backyard. But where she saw
the teen — the Douglass Cemetery — lies directly under her window, and it’s the
most poorly maintained of all.
A stone’s throw away is the Alexandria
National Cemetery, a look-alike of the better-known Arlington National Cemetery.
Crisp rows of stately white graves stand erect in the manicured, green grass. Surrounding
that cemetery, tombstones of all shapes and sizes lie amidst trees and flowers
in plots maintained by Alexandria churches.
At the Douglass Cemetery, graves are
splayed every which way like wiggly teeth. Some headstones sink so low in the hallowed
ground that only the first name of the deceased is visible through the shoots
of sprouting green shrubbery. The land is often swampy, said Hynes, and many
mature trees have died from lack of care.
Members of Griffin Burchard’s Boy Scout troop rake up
leaves at the Douglass Cemetery in Alexandria Aug. 7. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

Worried about what the young man might
be doing in the normally quiet cemetery, Hynes went down to investigate. She was
pleased to learn that the teen’s name was Griffin Burchard, and he had made it
his mission to care for the final resting place of hundreds of African
Americans.
A few years back, Burchard and his Boy
Scout troop had gone to Alexandria National Cemetery to remove old wreaths from
the graves. When they arrived, the wreathes were gone, but they still wanted to
do some service work. When they noticed the shabby condition of nearby Douglass
Cemetery, they raked the leaves and picked up debris there.
The only clue to the graveyard’s past
was the wooden sign with tan lettering that read, “Douglass Cemetery, circa
1827.” So Burchard, a parishioner of Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria and a student at St. Anselm's Abbey School in Washington,
decided to do some research at the Barrett Library in Alexandria.
“I went to see what information they had
there, and they didn’t have much,” said Burchard. “They just had a book that
was written by this man named Wesley Pippenger. He has records of where people were
buried and basic information about the cemetery.” By reading old newspapers,
Burchard confirmed that the cemetery was named after abolitionist and author
Frederick Douglass. He learned the only upkeep the cemetery receives is occasional
grass cutting.
Burchard decided to bring attention to
the cemetery through his Eagle Scout project, and Alexandria officials were excited
to help. “Because of the age and condition of the cemetery, there was no way to
restore the grave markers,” said Burchard. “However, we agreed that I would
research, design and install a new sign to bring more attention to this
historic cemetery and also to give more information about the cemetery and
people buried there.”
The completion of Burchard’s work
coincided with the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans in
Virginia. John Rolfe recorded the event, writing that “20 and odd” African men and
women landed at Point Comfort in August of 1619. According to the U.S. National
Park Service, the Africans were taken by English privateers off a Spanish slave
ship and brought to the New World in the “White Lion.” The vessel’s docking
point is memorialized at the Fort Monroe National Monument in Hampton.
African American history, from something
as notable as the first arrival of African men and women to Virginia to
something as forgotten as the Douglass Cemetery, is all around the
commonwealth. Audrey Davis, director of the Alexandria Black History Museum, is
grateful when someone like Burchard steps in to shed light on local history.
“There are so many wonderful sites that
often need our attention and there are so few of us, so it really takes a
community to make sure people are aware, especially for African American
history,” she said. “I think there’s so much more we can do in the city, and Griffin
is just aiding us in the work that’s being done.”
In the hours before the Aug. 15 sign
unveiling ceremony, Burchard, his fellow Boy Scouts and family members made
sure the cemetery looked its best. Burchard’s mom doled out liberal squirts of
bug spray before the crew raked leaves, scraped mud out of the street gutters
and spread mulch around the trees. Once they were finished, they changed into their
khaki Boy Scout uniforms.
Boy Scout Griffin Burchard (left) waits to give remarks
during the sign unveiling ceremony at Douglass Cemetery Aug. 7. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD
Josesphite Father Donald M. Fest, pastor of the historically African American St. Joseph Church in Alexandria, opened
the ceremony with prayer. Burchard gave a speech, thanking those who helped him
with this project. He expressed hope that a group would permanently adopt the cemetery.
“Ultimately, I would like to see an organization step forward to handle the regular
upkeep of the cemetery so that it is a respected and peaceful place, just like
all the other cemeteries that make up the Wilkes Street Complex,” he said.
Then, a black cloth was pulled to reveal
the sign nailed below the original wooden one. “The Douglass Cemetery Association
was founded in 1895 as a non-denominational segregated cemetery for Alexandria’s
African American Community,” it reads. Freedmen and women and their descendants
were buried there from 1896 to 1975. At the bottom of the sign is a quote from Douglass.
“Without a struggle, there can be no progress.”
Hynes and her heavily panting dog Simca
braved the afternoon heat to attend the ceremony alongside Burchard’s troop, family
members, Alexandria officials and others. “Not much makes me come out in this
weather but this was important. I just think it’s tremendous that this guy did
this,” said Hynes. “It’s a lasting history lesson.”