Midway Plantation Slave Cemetery

Midway Plantation Slave Cemetery

A short distance east of this marker is the site of the Midway Plantation slave cemetery which holds the remains of many of the African Americans who labored on the 1000 acre plantation in the bonds of slavery during the mid-nineteenth century.

By 1850 some 38 slaves toiled on the plantation and through their efforts Lysander McGavock's Midway thrived and boasted of 600 acres of improved farmland and produced cash crops of corn and tobacco.

Brentwood was once home to the Midway, a large 1000-acre plantation owned by Lysander MacGavock, who owned some 38 slaves. These were buried in this small cemetery. As can be seen in the background, Midway has been mostly lost to development. The city of Brentwood originally planned to obliterate this cemetery as well, but after complaints, it decided instead to reroute Murray Avenue around the site, and added this monument to the graveyard.

The City of Brentwood restored this cemetery to honor the unsung heroes who came from Africa and labored on the Midway Plantation in the 1850's. They survived the horrors of the Middle Passage; endured the shackles of slavery; raised their children; honored their parents to make America a better place.

We deeply appreciate their contributions to the world.

In 1992, the City of Brentwood restored this site which was part of the old Midway Plantation back before the Civil War. The old plantation encompassed much of what is now Princeton Hills Estates, McGavock Farms and Brentwood Country Club Estates. The ante-bellum home built by the plantation's owner is now the centerpiece for The Brentwood Country Club.