From its inception, St. Anne’s Cemetery was the city burial ground, serving all the citizens of the Parish of Annapolis. In the early years, people were buried around the church, but when there was no more room, the burial ground was moved to the city pastureland just down the road from the church at the end of Northwest St. The cemetery  continued to be referred to as the City Cemetery and welcomed all citizens no matter their faith or race. The fact that people of the Jewish faith and those of African American descent were buried among their neighbors of European descent was quite unusual in the 1800’s.  

Prominent and founding members of the African American community in Annapolis are buried in St. Anne’s Cemetery. The Bishop family, members of St. Anne’s Church, helped establish St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. The Smith Price family, who owned many buildings in Annapolis, are also buried among their white neighbors. The Reverend Henry Price was a well-known community leader and long-time minister of Asbury United Methodist Church in the mid-1800’s. William Butler, Maryland’s first African-American elected city council member and John Maynard, whose home is being renovated now as an example of an historic home of a free black working-class man, are also buried in St. Anne’s Cemetery.  

However, as in many very old cemeteries, there are many souls in our cemetery who have no grave markers. To uncover these names, a small group of cemetery committee members has been working for the last six months to transcribe the sexton’s records of the 1800’s and have found the names of many people who are not identified by grave markers. These names will be honored within the new Nature Sacred Garden of Peace and Remembrance, which will begin construction in the summer of 2024.

On February 25, Nature Sacred will be presenting their plans for the garden and asking for the congregation’s input at the after-church forum in the St. Anne’s Parish Hall at 199 Duke of Gloucester. All are welcome. Learn more.

Ginger DeLuca, Chair, Cemetery and Environment Committee