Welcome to Gone, But Not Forgotten
Downtown Jackson's largest green space,
invites you to explore the stories of our historic residence.
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Ink, Devotion, and Memory: A Love That Still Speaks from 1888
When was the last time you received a true love letter? Not a printed card or a quick text, but a handwritten expression of affection—carefully composed, deeply felt, and meant only for you. In today’s world, such gestures are rare, yet in the 19th century, they were often the most meaningful connection between two people.
From Beautification to Preservation: When Greenwood’s Women Took on City Hall
Greenwood Cemetery’s continued preservation was not always inevitable. In the mid-twentieth century, its care depended on the steady work—and at times determined resistance—of individuals who saw the cemetery as a place worth protecting.
Two very prominent members of that effort were Mrs. Isham (Norvelle Adams) Beard and Mrs. Luther (Louise) Manship, Jr. Their work together reflects the kind of civic leadership that combined beautification, restoration, documentation, and, when necessary, direct action to protect the cemetery.
Four Occupations, Two Husbands, One Determined Woman: Mary D’Ambrogio
In 1858, Charles Frederick Worth founded the House of Worth in Paris, France. Soon, the gowns and dresses he created were the epitome of fashion. To be compared in any way to the famous House of Worth would be the highest compliment paid to a seamstress, but that is exactly what happened to Jackson’s Mary D’Ambrogio. Kate Markam Power wrote an article in an early edition of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger and entitled it, “Biography of Jackson’s Pioneer Business Woman Resembles Fiction Character.” In the article she described Mary simply, “What Worth meant to Paris in his day Mrs. D’Ambrogio meant to Jackson in hers.”
Matilda O’Leary: An Irish Immigrant Who Helped Build Jackson
In the late nineteenth century, as Jackson rebuilt and expanded in the years after the Civil War, one of the city’s most successful real estate developers was an Irish immigrant widow who had already endured extraordinary loss. Matilda O’Leary’s life story is one of resilience, entrepreneurship, and civic contribution. By the time of her death in 1911, she had become one of Jackson’s most prominent property owners, and her obituary described her as “a woman of exceptional business sagacity.”
Reverend Marion Dunbar: From Blacksmith to Church Builder
The founding pastor of Mt. Helm Baptist Church (Greenwood Cemetery’s neighbor to the west) was impactful and influential in many circles outside of his ministry including offering the first classrooms for what would become Jackson State University.
Bettie C. Marino: Educator, Organizer, and Builder of Institutions in Jackson
In the history of Black education and civic life in Jackson, Mississippi, the name Bettie C. Marino stands with quiet strength. She was remembered not only as one of the city’s first Black school teachers, but as a founder, organizer, and institutional builder whose work shaped generations of women and girls.
Professor W.H. Lanier: Architect of Jackson’s Black School System
William Henry Lanier was among the most consequential African American educators in Mississippi during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born enslaved in Alabama around 1851, Lanier rose to become a college president, long-serving supervisor of Black public schools in Jackson, and the namesake of the city’s first four-year Black high school. His career reflects both the possibilities and the tensions that shaped Black educational leadership in the post–Civil War South.
AUNT NANCY HILL
It has been said that the brilliant inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931) dreamed of developing a “spirit phone” that could record the voices of the dead. I wish there were such a device…
Welcome to Gone But Not Forgotten
Greenwood Cemetery is one of Mississippi’s most important historic landscapes and one of Jackson’s most overlooked archives. Established by act of the Mississippi Legislature on January 1, 1823, Greenwood was…