The Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery was established as a burial ground in Alexandria for refugees fleeing from slavery during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Burials began on March 7, 1864, under the supervision of the Reverend Albert Gladwin, who was the superintendent of contrabands appointed to assist the refugees. Records indicate that 1,711 individuals are buried at the cemetery, although undocumented burials may have continued for some time after the cemetery closed in early 1869. The cemetery fell into disrepair by the mid-twentieth century and was largely forgotten after the property was sold for commercial development. It was rediscovered as an important burial site for African Americans in the late twentieth century and eventually purchased by the City of Alexandria for a memorial park. The Contrabands and Freedman Cemetery Memorial was dedicated on September 6, 2014. It features Mario Chiodo’s sculpture The Path of Thorns and Roses, an allegorical depiction of the struggle for African American freedom. Through a record of cemetery burials maintained by Gladwin, many decedents of those buried in the Freedmen’s Cemetery have been located.
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