Palm Grove Cemetery is a cemetery near downtown Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. During the Tolbert administration, the cemetery became the focus of the national Decoration Day, which continued to be observed after Tolbert was murdered in a 1980 coup d'état and his body dumped at the cemetery.[1] Once the country's national cemetery, it was threatened during June 1982 by Monrovia municipal authorities. In a complaint to the People's Redemption Council, the city noted that the cemetery was being used as a waste dump and was so full of graves that new burials were being conducted unsafely, even though increasing numbers of local residents were being buried in Paynesville. The authorities requested permission to close the cemetery to new burials and to move the cemetery to a new location,[2] away from its original Center Street site,[3] but the cemetery remains in Monrovia to date.[4]
Notable burials
- Martin Henry Freeman (1826–1889) – University president
- Henry Highland Garnet (1815–1882) – African-American abolitionist, minister, educator and orator
- Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809–1876) – President of Liberia
- Hilary Teague (1805–1853) – founding father of Liberia[5]
- William Tolbert (1913–1980) – President of Liberia[6]
References
- ↑ Hanicles, Oswald. "Liberians Remember Their Dead". Daily Observer 1981-03-12: 1/10.
- ↑ "Palm Grove Cemetery To Be Closed Down". Saturday Express, 1982-06-12, 1/6.
- ↑ "Graveyard Not Toilet". The Sunday People 1982-12-11: 1/8.
- ↑ Sendolo, Joaquin. "Several Graves Ransacked at Palm Grove Cemetery: Many Families Saddened". Daily Observer, 2012-03-20. Accessed 2012-04-16.
- ↑ Menjor, David S. "Palm Grove Cemetery: A Liberian Treasure, Overrun by Rubbish". www.liberianobserver.com. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
- ↑ Menjor, David S. "Palm Grove Cemetery: A Liberian Treasure, Overrun by Rubbish". www.liberianobserver.com. Retrieved 2023-02-12.