By: Sophia Lian (A Roslyn Landmark Society High School volunteer)
Individuals of African American and Indigenous ancestry often look to explore their roots by tracing their lineages back to the multiethnic units of the Roslyn community, including through the history and historic records of the Salem AME Church.
Salem AME Church on Roslyn Road is the oldest church in the Roslyn community. In 1859, the church was founded by the descendants of African Americans and Native Americans. These original followers of “cottage meetings'' came together to establish an enduring place of worship for generations to come.
There is still much left undiscovered in the history of Roslyn’s first Salem African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1899, the property of the original burial ground of the church on Harbor Hill was purchased as a wedding gift by John Mackay for his daughter-in-law, Katherine Alexander Duer, and his son, Clarence.
The Mackays acquired the property, which included the land of the original cemetery, as a part of their Harbor Hill Estate and after much controversy agreed to relocate the burial grounds to Greenlawn Cemetery at Pinelawn. However, there is still a lack of evidence that can reveal the exact location of Roslyn’s original Mt. Zion Cemetery and remnants of the burial sites.
Read more about Salem A.M.E. Church and the search for the original location of Mt. Zion Cemetery here.
Sources:
Clarke, Carol. “The Other Side of the Coin: African Americans in Roslyn.” The Bryant Library Local History Collection, February 26, 2021. https://www.localhistory.bryan....
Roslyn Landmark Society. “Mt. Zion Cemetery of the Salem A.M.E. Church: Profiles: Roslyn Landmark Society.” Accessed April 3, 2024. https://www.roslynlandmarks.org/profiles/mt-zion-cemetery-of-the-salem-a-m-e-church.
Roslyn Landmark Society. “Salem A.M.E. Church: Profiles: Roslyn Landmark Society.” Accessed April 3, 2024. https://www.roslynlandmarks.org/profiles/salem-ame-church.
The Bryant Library Local History Collection. “‘We Found You!’: The Salem A.M.E. Cemetery.” Roslyn Local History, January 3, 2022. https://www.localhistory.bryantlibrary.org/post/we-found-you-the-salem-a-m-e-cemetery.
Roslyn's Salem AME Church, circa 1900
1 Comments
I am very happy to see the High School involved with local history. More than a decade ago, while researching the history of Roslyn as a living history interpreter, I came across the story of the Mackays and the Zion AME burial plots. I called the high school and spoke to the History chairman since I thought it was a great Black history story. The school did not follow up on it then. That being said I did further research. According to an article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the church at first refused monetary compensation from the Mackays to move the burials but then relented and accepted payment for the inconvenience and 50 cents a grave to move the bodies to the new cemetery at Pinelawn. The bodies were transported by train. I spoke to a woman named, I think, Danielle(?) who was in charge of Pinelawn then. SHe told me that those burials were reinterred in a special area at the Pinelawn cemetery site in Farmingdale and that it is still in use today. Keep discovering more interesting stories about Roslyn's past.