Cemetery Community
“…and no one of us can make a home where ancestors do not also live.”
— from “Fieldwork” © 2014, 2021 by Brenda Marie Osbey. Reprinted by Permission of the Author. All Rights Reserved to the Author.
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Cemetery Community
WITH HONOR AND RESPECT
The Morningstar Tabernacle No. 88 Moses Cemetery is located adjacent to the foundations of the former lodge’s Moses Hall off Seven Locks Road in Cabin John, Maryland. Members of Morningstar Tabernacle No. 88 of the Ancient United Order of Sons & Daughters, Brothers & Sisters of Moses, an African American benevolent society, belonged to either Baptist or Methodist Episcopal (& A.M.E. Zion) churches in the area.
The following is the list of confirmed burials in the cemetery. This list is constantly evolving as we continue to confirm burials through death records, obituaries and death notices. Many names and details have come from descendants. A recent geophysical survey of a portion of the cemetery revealed evidence of 377 graves, most unmarked. The precise number of graves has not been confirmed.
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History of Gibson Grove
In 1880, the formerly enslaved couple Robert and Sarah Gibson bought property on what is now Seven Locks Road in Cabin John, Maryland. By 1895 nine other black families had joined them in buying land here. Together these families built a self-reliant settlement, early on called Gibson Grove, later just No. 10.
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Descendants of Morningstar Moses Tabernacle No. 88
Generations of Morningstar Tabernacle No. 88 Order of Moses descendants are directly involved in the efforts to preserve this sacred place.
Descendants gathered for a site tour and reunion in April, 2021.
—Photo by Susan Shipp, Cabin John Citizens Association (CJCA)