Public art will transform the African burial ground called the “African-American Cemetery,” historically known as the “Colored Cemetery” in the Town of Montgomery into “The Sacred Place of My Ancestors,” a meditative destination for reflection upon the lives of nearly 200 people, mostly believed to be enslaved African youth who were brought over by the earliest settlers of the region from the Rhenish Palatinate in the mid-18th century. It is the second largest in tack burial ground in New York State. (New York City’s African Burial Ground is the largest.)

All the originally marked graves that have been identified have had the stones used to mark them supplemented with small white pipes. Only two have any kind of discernible inscription, one of which dates its occupant’s passing to 1756. An explanatory plaque was dedicated in 1995, and the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Vinnie Bagwell is the “Lead Artist.” Her overarching vision is to create a public-art installation that will celebrate the history of enslaved African, freedman, and African Americans in Montgomery (Orange County), New York, honor the souls who were laid to rest at the site, and dignify the memory of enslaved Africans in America.

-The Sacred Place of My Ancestors affirms the existence of African American and Indigenous lives that were historically undocumented, yet foundational to the Town of Montgomery.

-The absence of recorded names does not mean absence from history. Restoration acknowledges lives lived, labor given, and contributions made, even when records are incomplete or missing.

-Many of those buried here were enslaved Africans and African Americans whose work supported the growth of the town, while their stories were excluded from public memory.

-In Indigenous tradition, speaking a person’s name allows them to live on. When names are lost, restoration becomes an act of remembrance, dignity, and care.