---
title: A History Hidden From View
date: 2023-12-06T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/a-history-hidden-from-view"
section: Articles
---
# A History Hidden From View

*December 6, 2023* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> Geology Students Search for Early Gravesite of Historic African American Church

*53330477600 5290666645 o 1920x1080 — Undergraduate and graduate students in UMD's field geophysics course use ground penetrating radar to look for possible graves at Emory Grove church, one of Montgomery County's oldest African American churches. The project is part of the university's Partnership in Action Learning in Sustainability program.*

In a darkened classroom tucked in the University of Maryland’s Chemistry Building, students cluster around a monitor to analyze a run of shallow, wavy lines punctuated by an occasional upward jump. But what looks like possible signs of life on an EKG is actually potential evidence of the dead, lying deep below an expanse of grass and asphalt just east of Gaithersburg, Md.

The students are searching for unmarked graves that disappeared from view—and later, memory—with the passage of time and circumstance on the grounds of one of Montgomery County’s oldest African American churches. Commissioned by the historic Emory Grove United Methodist Church with the support of the county and UMD’s [Partnership in Action Learning in Sustainability](https://arch.umd.edu/architecture/academics/partnership-action-learning-sustainability-pals) (PALS) program, the project aims to determine the location of the church’s early, forgotten gravesites in advance of redevelopment plans set to reclaim a once-vibrant African American hamlet.

“Projects like this are always useful from a development standpoint, but are also so important to the history and future of this community,” said [geology](https://www.geol.umd.edu/) Professor Nicholas Schmerr. “There’s a lot of pressure to get things right.”

\[*[Uncovering a Pioneering Town’s Hidden History: Student Excavation Project Offers Clues to Daily Life in County’s Oldest Black Community](https://today.umd.edu/uncovering-a-pioneering-towns-hidden-history)*\]

The church is one of the last remnants of Emory Grove, a tight-knit community founded by formerly enslaved people freed from nearby farms shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation. Situated on over 300 acres, it was home to 500 African Americans at its peak, boasting a baseball field that hosted Negro League games and a park that held some of the region’s largest Methodist “camp meetings,” often drawing over 10,000 people.

But the promise of indoor plumbing and paved roads as part of urban renewal in the 1960s fractured the community and displaced many of its residents, a nationwide phenomenon of suburbanization that disproportionately impacted Black communities. Over time, the cemetery adjacent to the church fell into disuse; as congregants passed away and pastors moved on, the property’s history was obscured.


*People stand in the woods — Church leaders and congregants stand on the edge of Emory Grove's current cemetery. The students' findings will help them preserve their past, while plan thoughtfully for redevelopment.*


*Professor and students look at ground penetrating radar — Schmerr (left) and students examine ground penetrating radar, which uses radio waves to indicate anomalies in the ground's subsurface, such as metal or soil disturbances.*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/geology), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences), [School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-architecture-planning-and-preservation)