(AURN News) — A new 1,000-acre park in Maryland is honoring Black history in the United States.
Freedman’s State Park is now open and chronicles the lives of a Black family that went from slavery to becoming one of the most influential families in Montgomery County, Maryland.
The property was owned by Enoch George Howard and his wife, Harriet Howard.
“When we preserve a place like this, we are doing more than protecting acreage,” said Chichi Nyagah-Nash, deputy chief of staff to Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md.
“We are honoring Black history as Maryland history. And we are making sure that future generations understand that freedom is not merely declared. It is built. It is defended. It is taught. It is prayed over. It is lived,” she added.
Features include the Howard Chapel Cemetery, various trails and the Greenbury Howard House.
Enoch George Howard was enslaved by the family for whom Gaithersburg was named. He saved money to buy his freedom, as well as the freedom of his wife and children, before later purchasing the land where his wife had once been enslaved.
The park also includes the ruins of Locust Villa, the original plantation home from the 1790s that Howard purchased for $3,000 during the Civil War.
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