ROCK CASTLE SLAVE CEMETERY
"Working side by side with descendants of the people
buried here made this much more than just a restoration project" -- Dan Seals
Several years ago as Andi and Dan Seals checked out their newly acquired property in Hendersonville they found an old run down cemetery. It turns out that the cemetery was where the slaves from the nearby Rock Castle * had been buried through the years. Although the state had surveyed the property - marking off twenty burial sites - the project was discontinued for lack of funds and undergrowth had reclaimed the sites.
Andi and Dan felt that the small cemetery was part of our heritage, the human race, and did not want to ignore it. Getting together with members of the Baha'i Faith and several other friends they formed a committee which began to working on the process of getting together a oral history in an attempt to locate the descendants of those buried there. It was a slow process but finally they were able to gather enough history to make a public announcement asking for information and donations.
Volunteers came forward to help with the clearing of underbrush, the cutting down of dead trees, and the digging of a foundation for a monument which was to be erected. Not only religious groups but everyday citizens of Tennessee as well as youths from the Bethlehem Center- which is for Nashville's housing project area. They worked side by side on the project. They poured markers for the grave sites, planted donated flowers, hauled debris away and made friends. They learned about each others lives, and their hopes for the future.
Finally on June 10, 1990 - Race Unity Day - with Andi Seals delivering the inspirational welcome, The Rock Castle Slave Cemetery was dedicated. Choirs from the Hendersonville Baha'i community as well as the congregations from the Mt Olivet Baptist Church and the Rockland Road Baptist Church sang. There were Ministers from several faiths who spoke and a prayer was offered for the departed ancestors laying at rest in the little cemetery.
* Rock Castle is a historic plantation which is located near Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The plantation is maintained and a tourist attraction.
The committee was able to identify at least 37 grave sites.
To learn a little more about this project,
check out the Race Unity Video put out
by the Baha'i Faith.
