Shreiner Concord Cemetery

Please be advised of the cancellation of the quarterly meeting of Grave Concern that had been scheduled for Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 7 PM at Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society.

Want to learn about what is believed to be the oldest and longest operating funeral home in the country? Grave Concern will hold its quarterly public meeting and program on Wednesday November 18, 2020 at 7 at Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society 2215 Millstream Road Route 30 East... Lancaster, PA The topic will be The History of the Bachman Funeral Home- the nation’s oldest and longest-running funeral home started in 1769." The presenter is Norman T. Mable, a Bachman Family descendent. For more information, visit https://www.snyderfuneralhome.com/lo/strasburg-pa-location/ This meeting is free and open to the public. Seating limited to the first 25 attendees. Facemasks and social distancing required. Grave Concern is an organization dedicated to the history, preservation and restoration of historical burial places. As an example of its work, Grave Concern supports Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Foundation by accepting tax deductible gifts to help maintain the historic cemetery in the heart of the City of Lancaster. For questions please contact Steve Stuart: Secretary, Grave Concern 717-341-5561 or by email, [email protected]

With deep regret, the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Foundation has decided not to open our historic cemetery for Halloween this year due to concerns about potential for infection by the corona virus of our volunteers and visitors. The Foundation hopes to gather again in 2021. Stay safe and healthy.

Shreiner Concord Cemetery now open again! Saturday was a grand day for a massive clean-up to prepare for the Grand Re-opening of this historic cemetery, following months of virus-forced closing. The entire property was clean and cleared of vines, tree branches and weeds along the center walkway. Tree wells weeded and low hanging branches trimmed. Gravestones re-set and leveled. All in about 3-plus hours.... The main task was the annual removal of the late summer sweet-smelling but fence-choking climatis-type flowering vines along three sides of the property. This would not have been possible without great help from a crew from Millersville University and a strong showing of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Lancaster. Several other volunteers joined in after reading about the clean up in a Friday news story in LNP/Lancaster OnLine. Thanks to the newspaper editors and reporter Mary Ellen Wright who wrote the article. The Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Foundation manages the property and has announces that regular morning opening and dusk closings are now on schedule, thanks to neighborhood volunteers who take on monthly shifts on the gates. The next even at the Cemetery will be the annual Halloween gathering followed by placement of new American flags on Veterans' Day. If you would like to volunteer, please email - [email protected]

People just did not stop moving...

Shreiner Concord Cemetery now open! Saturday was a grand day for a massive clean-up to prepare for the Grand Re-opening of this historic cemetery, following months of virus-forced closing. The entire property was clean and cleared of vines, tree branches and weeds along the center walkway. Tree wells weeded and low hanging branches trimmed. Gravestones re-set and leveled. All in about 3-plus hours.... The main task was the annual removal of the late summer sweet-smelling but fence-choking climatis-type flowering vines along three sides of the property. This would not have been possible without great help from a crew from Millersville University and a strong showing of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Lancaster. Several other volunteers joined in after reading about the clean up in a Friday news story in LNP/Lancaster OnLine, including members of Lancaster Downtowners. Thanks to the newspaper editors and reporter Mary Ellen Wright who wrote the article. The Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Foundation manages the property and has announces that regular morning opening and dusk closings are now on schedule, thanks to neighborhood volunteers who take on monthly shifts on the gates. The next event at the Cemetery will be the annual Halloween gathering followed by placement of new American flags on Veterans' Day. If you would like to volunteer, please email - [email protected]

The National Park Service is featuring Shreiner-Concord Cemetery and the self-guided or on line African American Heritage Tour of sites in the City of Lancaster as a safe and sensible alternative experience during the pandemic. https://www.nps.gov//undergroundr/explore-virtual-ugrr.htm

Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Grand Re-Opening & Fall Clean-Up Saturday - Sep. 12, 2020 - 9-11:30 AM... Join your neighbors & students from Millersville University to help maintain this historic site - If we don't, no one else will. Bring a mask for your health and safety and that of your neighbors and college volunteers you will work with. Also, bring gloves & your favorite tools! There will be cold water and good cheer. Sponsored by Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Foundation West Chestnut & Mulberry Streets, Lancaster, PA 17603 More information, [email protected] Copy this flyer and share with your friends and family. We need your help.

Remarks of a minister that transcend time and space The funeral of Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) was held on Monday, August 17, 1868 at Shreiner-Concord Cemetery, West Chestnut and North Mulberry Streets, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. An estimated 20,000 people lined the streets of Lancaster to witness the funeral procession which began at his home at 45 South Queen Street, and proceeded to the small private cemetery for burial, according to The Daily Evening Express, (Lancaster, ...PA 8/18/1868. Page 1). The Rev. Dr. J. Isidor Mombert, a Jewish German immigrant who converted to Christianity, was the Rector of Saint James Episcopal Church, Lancaster who delivered the eulogy at the Congressman’s burial. He stated, in part: Thaddeus Stevens loved liberty. The narrow barriers of party lines, of religious creed, of exclusive legislation, of a fettered press, of oligarchies aspiring to overthrow the liberties of the people by making the will of the many yield to the designs of a few, armed with official power and the resources and appliances of wealth -- all these he hated with bitter hatred and opposed with all his powers This inborn love of liberty and abhorrence of all exclusiveness, made him actually select this retired spot for his burying place, for he refused even to allow his ashes to lie in a cemetery, which, unlike God’s earth and air, forbids that those who are created with His image carved in ebony instead of ivory, should sleep there their last sleep. From William Frederic Worner’s, Tombstone Inscriptions from Graveyards in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Volume 8, The Lancaster County Historical Society, 1941, Page 7.

Statement by Dr. Leroy Hopkins on behalf of the African American Historical Society of South Central Pennsylvania on the issue of monuments and memorials.

Above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wails of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today, more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. Frederick Douglass, July 4, 1852. This Fourth of July, please join in to view and engage in a community reading of what is considered by many to be a rhetorical masterpiece, as we take a moment to reflect on the significance of July 4, 1776. See and hear two Lancastrians in this special ...national video that will premier on Independence Day as a production of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom of the National Park Service: A community reading of the famous Frederick Douglass speech: "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" A free national online watch party is set for 11 AM on Saturday, July 4. Here is how you can join in: Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (FRDO) has posted this to their Facebook page. Please visit their page and share the post with your networks. FRDO will host a Facebook "watch party" (July 4, 11:00 am) with rangers on hand for comments and questions. Dr. Leroy T. Hopkins, Jr., President of the African American Historical Society of South Central Pennsylvania, and Lenwood O. Sloan, Director of The Commonwealth Monument Project will be part of a group of about 90 historians, authors and activists from across the country who will read different portions of the famous speech that was first delivered in 1852. They were selected for this production since Thaddeus Stevens grave and monument at Shreiner-Concord Cemetery is a member of the UGRR National Network to Freedom. This message comes from Diane Miller, National Program Manager at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, Church Creek, Maryland. Here is her note of thanks to the readers: Dear Readers, I want to thank each of you for your participation in making this a great project. See below for information on where to find the video, which will be posted on July 4. In the meantime, please watch this special message from former NPS Director, Robert Stanton. Please help spread the word and share this with your networks. Sincerely, Diane Miller Download the list of the many notable participants who help produced this special event: http://undergroundrroriginspa.org//Master-list-NPS-Douglas Next, see a special message from Robert Stanton, former director, National Park Service linked here: https://www.nps.gov//community-reading-frederick-douglass- Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (FRDO) has posted this to their Facebook page. Please visit their page and share the post with your networks. FRDO will host a Facebook "watch party" (July 4, 11:00 am) with rangers on hand for comments and questions.

Lancaster residents and members of the African American Historical Society attend Friday's Penn Square vigil in memory of George Floyd. What would Mr. Stevens be saying about his city, county, state and nation today?

We wait in hope and take positive actions as we are able. Next year on this day a joyful community will celebrate this special man's birth anniversary again. We change. We adapt. Meditate. Moderate. Mitigate