Two Lexington County churches cleared a 200-year-old Black cemetery

Members of Saint Michael Lutheran Church and Pleasant Springs AME Church have cleared a Lexington County burial ground that dates to 1814 and had disappeared under brush, WIS reported on October 20, 2026. Nearly 160 people are believed to be buried there. Many were enslaved. More than 20 are known by name. Others are marked only by a rock.

The congregations have worked on the site together since 2017, and the project received $40,000 in state funding. Frank Anderson, pastor of Saint Michael, said the cemetery is part of his church's history with enslaved African Americans in the worshipping congregation, and that the goal is for people a century from now to know the ground is sacred. The story there, he said, is both enslavement and reconciliation. Marion Reeves, pastor of Pleasant Springs AME, found a family tie while the crews were working: Solomon Bowman, whom he identified as his great-great-great uncle. A rededication is set for 2 p.m. on November 1 at Winward Point Road and Arwen Lane, with a reception afterward.