Midland Cemetary Project
Goodbye
{{{birth}}} - {{{death}}}
The students and professors of the American Mosaic Semester at Dickinson College were fortunate enough to get to know a special member of the Steelton community, Barbara Barksdale. She has undertaken a major respons ibility in the community by beginning to clear away an African-American Cemetery which was covered over by weeds and trees. The Midland Cemetery, which dates back to the Civil War period, is located in Swatara Townhip, just outside Steelton, PA. The lar ger part of Midland had been buried under weeds and brush for 35 years before Barbara and her 11 year old son ventured into the cemetery in 1993. Barbara recollected: "When I was a little girl, my parents would come here after church on Sunday. Because I had allergies, they'd roll up the windows and leave me in this hot car while they disappeared into the brush--I'd sit and wait. Well, I was 35 when I came back here to see where they had gone on these Sunday afternoons to visit with Grandpa--and here I am...I thought was just that little corner of a cemetery...I started researching and pulling up the old deeds from 1932. And it just expanded. Thank God it expanded without my knowledge, because I don't know if I would have been able to stand out here right now and talk to you. Because I didn't know it was this big. And I didn't know what kind of work I was getting into, and what kind of history I was going to open up." Many of the neighbors did not even know that the cemetery was there. At this ti me, Barbara decided to clean up this "corner cemetery" a little every day and figured that it would be in good shape by Spring.
Barbara had no idea of the immensity of the project that she had begun. Some of the headstones were impregnated within roots of the trees, trees so large that one could not fit his arms around them. Also, to Barbara's surprise, the cemetery was actually three and one-half acres large. It holds the remains of many African-American ancestors from this area, including Barbara's grandfather. Over 70 American war veterans' names have been recorded, dat ing back to the early19th century. This cemetery holds the history of the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. Behind or under every tree is more history. Midland also holds the remains of Steelton's first black Ministers, Doctors, Stee lworkers, Teachers, and Parents. It is a place of heritage--a sacred place of heritage--and one that offers valuable information both to the immediate community and beyond.
"Everywhere you see a headstone, you know a whole life story is buried."
