Slate Hill Cemetery Receives State Recognition

LOWER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, PA —The Slate Hill Cemetery has been recognized by a state agency for its preservation efforts.

The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office recently announced its Community Initiative Awards for 2023, naming four recipients and their projects for showcasing a variety of preservation success stories, and demonstrating the importance of preserving those places at the heart of Pennsylvania’s communities that embody its past and present stories.

The agency said about the cemetery:

The Lower Makefield Township Historical Commission (LMTHC) is recognized for its efforts to preserve the community’s Slate Hill Cemetery and engage residents in their shared history.

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Slate Hill is an intact Colonial-era graveyard that was established in 1690 as a Quaker burial ground but was later expanded to include the township’s first public cemetery.

It contains about 580 burials, including six veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops who served in the Civil War

.In 2023, LMTHC began an ambitious project to document, preserve, and promote the history of the cemetery.

Over the year, their work included a report on the condition of the cemetery, an updated site survey, a preservation master plan, community clean-up days and a marker cleaning program, a partnership with local police for the use of ground penetrating radar for investigating underground, fundraising events, and a new education campaign to generate interest in the cemetery and the history of the Lower Makefield community.

Click here to read more about the cemetery from its profile on the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation website.

The Community Initiative Awards recognize the hard work and dedication of outstanding organizations, municipalities, agencies, and individuals whose work embodies the theme of Pennsylvania’s statewide historic preservation plan.

The plan provides a framework of activities and goals that will help Pennsylvanians better understand historic preservation and its benefits, appreciate their shared histories as told through historic places, and balance history and economic development to manage change within their communities.

(Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office)