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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

When the Rev. Del Hinton needs to get away from it all, her favorite place to visit is 'a secluded piece of prime real estate with one of the most gorgeous views of Baltimore City.'

There, alone with her thoughts, she communes with bishops, babies, former slaves and pioneers in their fields. Her 'place' is a cemetery.

More than 48,000 famous, infamous and ordinary souls lay buried at Mt. Auburn cemetery, which was founded in 1872 as 'The City of the Dead for Colored People.'

Hinton gains inspiration from the stories of the people laid to rest in those 33 acres. But she also mourns the condition into which the cemetery has fallen.

As pastor of Sharp Street Memorial UMC, which owns the land, she laments that nature has taken over and given the place an air of disuse and abandonment. The church, which lies several miles away, is unable to finance the upkeep. Plans and good intentions are too often met with apathetic responses.

Hinton refuses to believe that United Methodists will allow what she believes is 'a national treasure,' to be treated so shabbily.

The cemetery, which is included on the National Register of Historic Places, contains the graves of bishops Edgar A. Love and William A.C. Hughes; civil rights activist Lillie Carroll Jackson; the founder of the Afro-American newspaper, John Henry Murphy; William Ashby Hawkins, the first African American to run for the U.S. Senate; Louise Young, the first African-American woman doctor in Maryland; and Joseph Gaines, the first African-American lightweight boxing champion.

There are also 178 soldiers from World War I who were buried at Mt. Auburn during the flu epidemic in 1918, a 100-year-old former female slave who was born in 1799 and died in 1899, and a whole section of infants whose families could not afford to pay for grave sites.

The cemetery, which was built on what was then the outskirts of the city, provided the first place in the region where African-American people could be buried with dignity, Hinton said.

'It?s sacred ground,' she continued. 'This is the resting place of people who struggled, they fought, they laughed, they cried, they danced, they sang and they did most of these things in recognition of God. They are, in large, God-people, Christ-centered people. They couldn?t succeed without the presence of Jesus in their lives. Their stories tell us what it means to have faith.'

While she would welcome basic lawn care and landscaping for the overgrown plots, Hinton envisions the cemetery as being more.

'The loss of our history is an issue for many African Americans,' she said. 'Mt. Auburn is a source of history. It?s a way of retaining information.'

Instead of just renovating the existing cemetery, Hinton imagines the site as a place of education. 'It doesn?t have to be a place of gloom and doom,' she said. 'Plaques and markers could be developed near the tombstones that tell about the history of the city and country and by sharing the stories of those who are buried there. Children could take walking tours and learn. History could be lifted up.'

In an interesting sidebar, Hinton noted that because the cemetery has been left alone for so long, some of the plant life planted on the graves by family members are unusual for the city. Some may even have been brought by the descendents of slaves from plants that began first in the soil of Africa.

Amateur and professional horticulturists have expressed interest and delight in some of the finds they make strolling through the tall grass and shrubs.

Hinton delights in their interest and in the efforts of Volunteer in Mission groups that have come this summer and in previous years to help.

But more is needed, she said. Much more.

James Wilson, Mt. Auburn?s caretaker, works approximately 12 hours a week with inadequate mowers and other tools. His is a losing battle he fails to relinquish.

We need volunteers, he pleads, and money.

Volunteers to assist in fund raising and the development of a management plan would also be welcomed, Hinton said.

'I?ve always felt that a cemetery is a period in the story, but it doesn?t end the story,' Hinton said. 'Rather, it is the defining moment. The story changes as the body goes down as one thing and is raised up as another.'

MAKE THE CONNECTION:
The Rev. Douglas Sands Sr., is chairman of the Mt. Auburn Cemetery Corporation and the Rev. Del Hinton?s father. To make a donation or for more information, write to him at 1206 Etting St. in Baltimore. He can also be contacted at (410) 523-7200.