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.
“How we take care of the dead always reflects the values of the living. The obscure nature of an unmarked grave suggests a life redacted from history, a life not entitled to remembrance. Yet history is not just that which is written; its stories exist in local minds, traveling tongues, and the identities of those who went through it.
A life that appears erased to wider society doesn’t ever depart unnoticed.”
— from Buried in the Shadows, Ireland’s Unconsecrated Dead, by Sabrina Jones (SAPIENS, 06/18/24)
Surprise Revealed at Our Spring Clean-Up!
Our spring 2026 clean-up at Morningstar Tabernacle No. 88 Moses Cemetery was remarkable—not only because the site looks great, but because our dedicated volunteers made an extraordinary discovery. A small but mighty group worked especially hard clearing overgrown vegetation in one area of the site and uncovered a rare marked grave: the resting place of Milton Steward, who died on April 20, 1925.
Because there are so few marked graves at Morningstar Moses Cemetery, discovering a previously undocumented burial is deeply meaningful. This surprise was a moving and rewarding reminder of why this work matters.
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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)