Berliner Asks HOC to Restore Cemetery in Tobytown to a “Dignified State” (VIDEO)
Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner is asking the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) to restore a cemetery in Tobytown “to a dignified state and to develop a plan for its on-going maintenance.”
In a letter to HOC Director Stacy Spann, dated Feb. 23, Berliner notes that the Council recently watched a video about Tobytown and Lincoln Park, two historic African-American communities, during a recent Black History Month presentation.
“In the portion of the video on Tobytown, the dilapidated state of its cemetery was highlighted and the Housing Opportunities Commission was specifically mentioned by a resident,” wrote Berliner, who represents Tobytown as a district council member.
In the Black History Month video (at the two minutes and 47 seconds mark below), Tobytown resident Jimmy Wilson states that the cemetery has been there for over 100 years. “You are walking on graves now,” Wilson tells County Cable Montgomery (CCM) producer Susan Kenedy. “They just don’t have any stones.”
“We should do everything we can to ensure that we honor the lives of past residents of this historic community, as we would want for any other community in Montgomery County,” Berliner said in the letter to Spann.
According to a representative of Berliner’s office on Friday, Spann has not yet responded to Berliner’s request.
You can read Berliner’s entire letter, below:
thanks for the story you did on toby town cemetery. I have been doing research for years my ancesters are buried there,I am a decendence of Tobias and Else Martin .