Preserving Cemeteries and their Histories – Lessons from Cedar Hill and Pine Grove at Harpers Ferry

Cynthia M. Gayton discusses preservation efforts at the Cedar Hill and Pine Grove cemeteries at Harpers Ferry. She will highlight lessons learned about preservation since her research into the cemeteries started in 2019 to the present using clips, stills and articles related to her documentary, "Hidden in Plain Sight - Revealing the Concealed Harpers Ferry Cemeteries."

Cynthia M. Gayton was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. She moved to Washington, DC to attend college and later to Arlington, Virginia where she has lived for several years. Since coming to the area, she has steeped herself in the region’s history and has supported that interest with legal and academic practice. Over time, Cynthia extended that interest into the arts. Her annual pilgrimage to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia resulted in a steampunk art gallery, called Steam at Harpers Ferry, that featured regional artists. The gallery was also an opportunity to talk about Harpers Ferry history and continue research and writing with a specific concentration on little known people, places and events, resulting in a few short stories and a completed novel. 

She decided to pivot from the gallery to screen writing and publishing to leverage her continuing research. The Rabbit Hole History documentary project, in collaboration with Bot Studios, combines local history with documentary storytelling. She directed her first history-based documentary entitled “Hidden in Plain Sight – Revealing the Concealed Harpers Ferry Cemeteries.” Two cemeteries are featured. One cemetery, Pine Grove, was set aside by the United States Armory at Harpers Ferry in 1852 at the request of the citizenry, where Union soldiers were later buried. Another, Cedar Hill, holds the remains of African American residents, including an African American Union soldier. Both are investigated using public records, interviews with local residents, and other clues to explain why these cemeteries were ignored in a town so rich in history. Since its release, preservation efforts to repair and reset memorials and markers at Cedar Hill continue. At Pine Grove, ground penetrating radar was used to locate unidentified graves – some marked with flag stones. In the mid-2020s, a commemorative bench was installed where there was only one clear marker – the footstone of a child.