Uncovering Truths
The above conclusion in 1953 stated in court that there were no records proving Cherry Lane had been a cemetery. This led to its destruction. However, our research shows that not only are there obituaries and municipal records that name Cherry Lane as the burial site, but tax rolls from a scant few decades earlier reveal New York City called this land a cemetery and designated it tax-exempt.
The above 1907 map shows Cherry Lane Cemetery as “African Church Cemetery.” The 1908 tax roll on the right has the same location listed under “Exempt Property.” You can also see that it was 23,674 sq ft. and valued at $800.
In fact, Cherry Lane was the final resting place for a tragic number of babies and children. Blanche Hill was a year old when she died from cholera. And Mable Robinson was four months old when she died from cholera. These documents are not only a testament to their brief lives but tell us who their parents were, where they were born and where they lived. All critical information in researching the history of this site and the community that surrounded it — information that is otherwise nearly impossible to come by when researching African-American history. What we don’t know is the effect these losses had on their families. Mable Robinson was the fifth baby that Joshua and Lizzie Robinson had lost to illness. What did that do to them? This is what the records can’t tell us.
As shown on this 1917 map, Cherry Lane was now Forest Avenue, and given the block number 393 which it still has today. You can also see Forest Avenue extended into the cemetery, meaning there may not only be remains under the shopping plaza, but also under Forest Avenue itself.
The strip of land parallel to the cemetery had been owned by Mary Prine, former secretary of the cemetery’s board of trustees. Note that these are the only two properties in this section that have been partially destroyed by Forest Avenue’s expansion.
This map of Richmond County dated 1874 shows that there was also indeed a church on this site. It was the Second Asbury AME Church, and the property was deeded by John and Tabitha Blake in 1850. Note that the property around the church largely belonged to the Barrett & Nephews Dye Works, run by Nathan Barrett and his nephews the Heals.
Although we haven’t found an illustration of the Cherry Lane church or cemetery, we recently discovered this pamphlet at Historic Richmondtown advertising the Barrett & Nephew Dye Works, dated 1888. Our site would be just out of the picture on the left. You can see how bucolic this once looked despite the dye works, and it appears that Cherry Lane was actually lined by cherry trees. (There is one now planted on behalf of the site’s history in front of the shopping plaza.)