Entry No. 33 — the Dallas file — filed under: cemetery
Freedman's Cemetery Memorial
“the headstones removed and the land turned into a lawn”
An 1860s burial ground for Dallas's formerly enslaved community that was literally paved over by the North Central Expressway in the 1940s -- the headstones removed and the land turned into a lawn -- until a 1990 road project rediscovered some 800 marked and an estimated 1,200 unmarked graves. The land is now a haunting bronze-and-granite memorial gateway.
The move: Visit at dusk to walk through the dramatic bronze entry gates and read the sculpted figures and inscriptions; it's a sobering, conversation-deep stop. Pair it with a quiet stroll through the adjacent State-Thomas historic homes afterward.
📍 Before you go The memorial is small, roughly two acres, and sits at the southwest corner where Lemmon Avenue meets North Central Expressway in Uptown — easy to blow past at highway speed, so slow down on the frontage and aim for the arched granite gateway as your landmark. It's a fully exposed, roadside open-air site with no visitor center or facilities, and there's parking in the shopping center just south of it. Daylight makes the inscriptions and figures legible; any season works. This is a real burial ground and a solemn memorial, not a picnic park, so keep it low and respectful. It's one of a cluster of four historic Uptown cemeteries here — the still-active Temple Emanu-El Cemetery sits immediately west.
- 📍 Uptown / State-Thomas
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Calvary St & N Central Expressway, Dallas, TX
Hours: Outdoor memorial; daylight hours recommended.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Wikipedia · dallaspioneer.org
last checked: 2026-06-06