Roseland Cemetery Dedication
On a picture perfect day, a number of citizens gathered to unveil the sign at Roseland Cemetery, an African American burial site just off Monroe Road. In 2017 Taft Development Group purchased the property for development and promised to care for the graveyard. After years of neglect, many wanted this historic site to be refurbished and preserved. This long-forgotten spot where former slaves and African Americans are buried was cleaned up by a group of volunteers led by Hoke Thompson, a former Eagle Scout, in February and March 2021. Taft provided dumpsters and extra topsoil to fill in gravesite depressions and installed a fence around the cemetery perimeter.
The Matthews Heritage Museum did research on the cemetery, tracking who was buried there. After several months, we have a list of 61 names of individuals who are buried there, though most do not have stones (names listed here). The earliest known burial dates to 1916 when Calvin Henry Boyd, first minister and founder of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church was laid to rest. The last known burial dates to 1957 when Reginald Leon McMurray was buried there as an infant. We believe 10 or 11 former slaves are also buried there.
It is a lovely peaceful place to take a stroll and learn a bit of history, located at the rear of the new complex, The Address Galleria apartments.
Matthews Heritage Museum 