Reclamation Project

A historic cemetery is saved from a slow death.

by Cory Frolik

It wasn't enough that the late Robert Purvis' home at 16th and Mt. Vernon, complete with a historical marker celebrating his role in helping the Underground Railroad thrive, fell into disrepair and will soon become a condo [Fine Print, "Burying the Underground Railroad," Cory Frolik, Nov. 4, 2004]. Until recently, Purvis' grave site at the Fair Hill Burial Ground was also threatened.

Located at Ninth and Cambria in North Philadelphia's Badlands, the cemetery was once a gathering place for drug users and vendors, along with prostitutes and their johns. Others, thinking it was a pet cemetery, would toss dead animals over the fence.

"It was a blight on the community," says Ed Jordan, a volunteer involved in recent efforts to reclaim the historic cemetery.

On Feb. 19, members of a nonprofit group that purchased the cemetery and launched a clean-up effort gathered at a spruced-up grave site to celebrate Purvis' life and their decade-long initiative. Nearly a half-million dollars later, they showed off the fruits of their efforts to, among others, Purvis's great-great-grandson Bradley Purvis, and Margaret Bacon, biographer of a man she referred to as, "the president of the Underground Railroad who stood up for all people's rights."

They heard volunteers talk about working from three to 12 days a year, relying heavily on the generosity of Quaker contributions (the land was originally owned by Quakers). Before, it would have been difficult to even find Purvis' grave. Not only is it off-the-beaten-path but in the past, the headstone wasn't even legible. (It is now and Bradley Purvis says, "It looks amazing.") Mary Anne Hunter, president of the Fair Hill Burial Ground Corp., says they also had problems with vandals stealing steel fences they erected.

They had some help with that end of the project, however. In recent years, neighborhood watchdog Peaches Ramos had stood up to local drug dealers with assistance from the Philadelphia Police Department, which stepped up area patrols following community outcry.

As a result, Ramos says, locals have started renovating their properties and, as unbelievable as it would have seemed several years ago, new residents are moving in. With the neighborhood on the upswing, cemetery volunteers hope the property will become a historic attraction.

They want to "bring schoolkids here to experience the history of 150 years ago when people stood up to slavery," says volunteer Jean Warrington, "and the history of five years ago when people stood up to drug dealers."