Heritage, 2010, Volume 1 Page: 19
31 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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These inner-city freedmen communities were most likely home to people who
worked as servants in town or for businesses nearby. Some, like grocery store
owner, Jeremiah Hamilton, of the Red River Street community, established their
own businesses. 8
Out in the countryside, a short wagon-ride away from Austin, at least seven
small rural communities of freedmen also formed. Existing within the city limits,
these areas were home to men and women who wanted to work the land as
farmers and still be able to travel a short distance to Austin to sell their pro-
duce. Many of these communities were located on the sites of the plantations
where the freedmen had lived before the war, near the slave cemeteries where
their relatives were buried. The Barton Springs community was established
when the war ended in 1865 by ex-slaves from the Goodrich Plantation, who
got permission from their former master to live on the property and even-
h tually purchased the land from him. Located in south Austin, the Barton
Springs community was small, but the cemetery is thought to contain at least
2,000 graves, most of them unmarked. Some of the burial sites may date from as
far back as the 1840s. 9
Former slaves from the Burditt Family plantations, which were located south of
the Colorado River, settled near their ancestral burial grounds as well. Although
there is no longer any sign of the freedmen settlement here, the Burditt's Prairie
Cemetery remains intact. Like the Barton Springs cemetery, it is much larger than
it looks, with many unmarked graves. 10
Another community formed in the area of the former Bouldin Plantation, which
was located south of the Texas School for the Deaf on Congress Avenue. Here, freed-
men from the Bouldin Plantation and nearby farms established a large racially
mixed neighborhood that became known as South Side or South Austin. 10
Other rural freedmen communities were established by former slaves who came
into the area from outside of Austin and purchased land to set up their own farms.
In 1865, freedman Thomas Kinchion (who spelled his name with an i) arrived
with his family at a spot seven miles southwest of Austin and purchased the land
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, 2010, Volume 1, periodical, 2010; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth254216/m1/19/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.