Rose Hill Cemetery

Rose Hill Cemetery. 1887 - present. , Rose Hill Cemetery is tucked away in an industrial area today, but when it was established in 1887, this was a rural area on the outskirts of Manassas. Created at a time when local ordinance segregated burying grounds by race, this was one of the cemeteries in Prince William County that exclusively served the Black community. The Rose Hill Cemetery Association, run by members of the African American community, was the early steward of this cemetery., Like other African American cemeteries of the time, Rose Hill received no public support from the White community or local government. Care and maintenance, including the opening and closing of graves for funerals, were provided by members of the Black community. The first burials likely included men and women who were born enslaved. In 1978, after nearly a century of operating privately, the Cemetery Trustees approached the city of Manassas about taking over Rose Hill. After two years of negotiations, an agreement was reached in 1980, and the City accepted ownership. Today, Rose Hill is closed to new burials, but the cemetery remains an important connection to the people who helped make Manassas what it is today., [Sidebar:] , Burials at Rose Hill Cemetery go back to the late 19th century. Unfortunately, records of these early interments are sparse and some graves are believed to be unmarked. The oldest headstone in the cemetery marks the grave of Samuel Pickett, believed to be one of the first people buried here, before the cemetery was formally established. Samuel was born in 1854, just before the outbreak of the Civil War. The 1870 census documents him as living in Brentsville and working as a hostler , a person who cares for horses. When Samuel died in 1885, an unknown stone cutter made this headstone to mark his final resting place., [Captions:] , This deed for purchasing a plot in the West End Cemetery (known today as the Manassas Cemetery) clearly shows that Blacks and Whites were not allowed to use the same burial ground., The rudimentary headstone of Samuel Pickett marks one of the earliest burials that took place in what became Rose Hill Cemetery., Clara Williams Conway was the first African American woman in Manassas to register to vote. She is one of many remarkable people buried at Rose Hill Cemetery.