In 1958, the 100-year Laurel Hill Cemetery in Baltimore City, final resting place of many of Baltimore's prominent African-Americans, was sold to developers after decades of neglect. Over the objections of many, including the Baltimore NAACP, the land was bulldozed to make way for a shopping center, which still stands there today. While an estimated 300 to 500 graves were moved to the new Laurel Cemetery, created specifically to accommodate removals from the old Laurel Hill Cemetery, an estimated 5,000 graves still remain at the original site in Baltimore City. No records were kept, and one cannot know with certainty who was actually moved to the new location. Given the size of the new cemetery, much smaller than the original, and the fact that the tombstones were placed close together in a somewhat random fashion, it is suspected that in at least some cases, only the tombstones were relocated.

Today, a coordinated effort is underway to document the interments at the original Laurel Hill Cemetery, and to create a memorial to those buried there.

Laurel Cemetery is currently located at the intersection of Hodges Road and Lancaster Drive in Johnsville, Maryland about 20 miles west of Baltimore. Two 16-foot stone pillars mark the entrance and the graves are placed in rows off a central pathway.

The trustee was a man by the name of Edward A. Anderson who died in the 70s. The story of how the Laurel Cemetery came to be where it currently is can be found in "Flowers of the Forest: Black Genealogical Journal", 1984. A copy of it can be found at the Pratt library in Baltimore or by searching worldcat.org.

The Findagrave page for the original Laurel Hill Cemetery: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2660000/laurel-hill-cemetery-(defunct)