Ground Penetrating Radar and Photogrammetry Survey of Laurel Hill Cemetery; An African American Cemetery in Western Pennsylvania

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Laurel Hill Settlement was a small, mountaintop African American settlement that was located in what is now Laurel Ridge State Park west of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The settlement was formed sometime before 1825 and may date back as far as the late 1700s. It is unclear how large the settlement was and how many families lived there at any given time during its occupation. One of the only remaining above ground signs of the community who once lived at the site is a small cemetery. The cemetery has only a few remaining grave markers and likely contains a large number of unmarked burials. This poster presents the preliminary results of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and photogrammetry surveys of the cemetery as well as historical research about individuals known to be interred at the site. The goal of this project is to understand the extent and layout of the cemetery and to discover what information the cemetery can provide on community size and the individuals who once lived in this community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39486.0