Curators have uncovered the first grave of people who were enslaved in Beverly, Massachusetts, and the discovery is raising more questions about who else could be hidden in Central Cemetery.
The grave of Philis Cave and Nancy Milan almost sunk into the ground, their stories along with it.
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Abby Battis, associate director of collections with Historic Beverly, discovered the women while doing research for "Set at Liberty: Stories of the Enslaved People in a New England Town."
The exhibit, which opened at the Cabot House earlier this month, tells the story of approximately 250 people who were enslaved in the city. Battis hopes that the nonprofit's latest discovery leads to more graves, or perhaps even a plot where the city may have buried other enslaved individuals.
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"We're digging into these histories. We hope to find more burials here in the cemetery," Battis told NBC10 Boston Tuesday.
More on slavery in America
Cave and Milan were enslaved and eventually gained their freedom. They were living together in a house between Prides Crossing and Beverly Farms, according to Battis.
Both women worked as laundresses until they died in the mid-1800s. Cave worked for Squire Robert Rantoul — the namesake of today's busy Rantoul Street. Tracking down the history of people who were enslaved can be difficult, Battis said, which is what makes finding the gravestone so significant.
"Usually, for enslaved individuals, if you have a death date, you can actually work backwards, which is incredibly helpful," Battis said.
Finding the grave itself wasn't easy. A few people from the nonprofit, including Historic Beverly museum generalist Jonathan Schuster, spent about a week and a half combing through seventeen thousand graves in Central Cemetery. Their only clue was a 12-year-old photo from findagrave.com, and when they found it, the grave had almost entirely sunken underground.
"We started digging up where we found it, and lo and behold, it was Nancy Milan and Philis Cave's grave, which we were extremely excited about," Schuster said. "It was awesome."
The two women have been added to the exhibit, which was funded by the Cummings Foundation. A portion of that funding went to the city's public school system, according to Battis, to cover field trips to the Cabot House for elementary and middle school students. The Cummings Foundation also provided bus funding so that anyone who can't afford transportation can go there for free.
Uncovering this history is personal for Battis, a descendent of the Hale family, who were also enslavers.
"I feel that I kind of have to apologize for the past for what the Hales did, and say, 'I'm a different generation,'" Battis said. "It's all about — for us — sharing the history of Beverly, sharing these stories, and sharing these stories so that they're complete."
Battis hopes to find the person who posted the photo of the grave online so that she can learn more about Cave and Milan, and maybe even meet some of their descendants.
