The Montgomery Town Board has approved a conceptual design for the revitalization of a historic African American Cemetery located within the Town of Montgomery.

This historic African American cemetery consists of at least 171 known grave markers on a .46-acre parcel of land located on the west side of State Route 416 in the Town of Montgomery. The cemetery was established in the 18th century for slaves and used by African Americans through the 19th century, with the earliest grave marker dates from 1756. The cemetery is located across the street from the Medline Industries facility which is currently under construction.

The conceptual design was developed by BCT Design Group and sculptor Vinnie Bagwell.

Bagwell has always been an agent for social, educational and economic growth through the arts in her community. An untutored artist, she began sculpting in 1993. Her first public artwork: The First Lady of Jazz Ella Fitzgerald at the Yonkers Metro-North/Amtrak train station was commissioned by the City of Yonkers in 1996. The life-sized bronze statue is the first sculpture of a contemporary African American woman to be commissioned by a municipality in the United States.

In 2012, Bagwell created a 24-inch bronze, Liberté, for the inaugural exhibition at the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, and the piano for August Wilson’s award-winning play, “The Piano Lesson”, at the Signature Theater in New York City. In 2018, the DC Department of General Services commissioned Bagwell’s creation of a life-sized sculpture of music icon Marvin Gaye for a new recreation center in DC and the State of Connecticut commissioned a seven-foot bronze statue of Hartford educator, Walter “Doc” Hurley, which is the first public artwork of a contemporary African American in the State of Connecticut.

In addition, a USDA soil specialist used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic induction (EMI) technology to determine the presence and extent of the historic burials. EMI provided an apparent conductivity map, reflecting the variability in landscape due to landscape position and alterations by the disturbance to the natural stratigraphy of a soil profile due to excavation and burials.

As visitors enter the cemetery they will see a stone moon-gate entrance, entry signage as well as an asphalt parking lot with 12 spaces. Attractive landscape screening is proposed across the street from the cemetery. The design also proposes two bronze sculptures. Bagwell has currently designed one, which is a 9-foot tall African American woman holding a staff. This will be placed at one of the entrances.

Now that the town board has approved the conceptual design they will work with the State Historic Preservation Office as well as local property owners to work on easements to ensure that the concept can actually happen.

“We’re probably a year out in terms of potentially getting completed,” Maher said. “A year or two.”

He also underscored the importance of revitalizing the cemetery.

“With all the social issues going on in our country, the Town of Montgomery is taking a lead to actually make a meaningful difference in terms of creating a project a community can get behind whether you’re black, white, brown, whatever your socioeconomic background is,” Maher said. “This project will help bring people together by contemplating the things that happened, being honest with ourselves about what slaves went through and teaching that and not hiding from it and moving forward in a productive way that’s based on education and facts as opposed to fear.”