Friends of Geer Cemetery: Restoration Awareness Ceremony

Friends of Geer Cemetery is hosting a Restoration Awareness Celebration at the cemetery. There will be a stone resetting demonstration with Ron Bartholomew, ancestral libation ceremony with Erica Beauvoir and James Stewart, storytelling about people and families, and presentation on the importance of preserving African-American burial grounds. Geer Cemetery was the first Black owned burial grounds for African-Americans in Durham County opening in 1877. All community members are invited to join in and celebrate the legacy of African-Americans in Durham's history. Geer Cemetery has been part of Durham's story for nearly 150 years.

They are also looking to the community to help gather information about the people buried in the cemetery, photos of families and the cemetery, and cemetery plot maps. There will be volunteers to help record information and memories about the cemetery from descendants and the community.