The Mildford Settlement & Burial Ground

Preserving Black History in Evesham Township

The Milford Black Enclave Settlement was a discreet community established in the early 1820s when free and fugitive Black populations settled in a secluded area in the Milford section of Evesham Township near the municipality’s heavily forested southwestern border.

By 1850, the Black population in Milford had grown to 64 individuals, including men, women, and children. Members of this community owned land, built their own school and operated their own stores. The community also established a burial ground in or prior to 1884.

Although the Milford Settlement would slowly dissolve into the early 1900s, the Milford Burial Ground would be utilized for several more decades as a site for the interment of indigent people of color from the wider area of Burlington and Camden counties. Today the scattered grave markers along the forest floor are all that remain to represent the members of the historic Black community that once made a life here.

In 2024, Evesham Township proudly acquired the land for historic preservation, and in 2025, Evesham successfully petitioned to have the site officially accepted as part of The New Jersey Black Heritage Trail. 

• Established in the 1820s by free and fugitive Black populations.
  
  
• Members settled in a secluded area in the Milford section of Evesham with support from members of the Evans family - noted abolitionists.
  
  
• By 1850, the population in Milford had grown to at least 64 individuals.
  
  
• Members owned land, built a school, operated stores and established a burial ground by the late 1800s.
  
  
• Saw mills and grist mills owned by the Evans family along nearby Kenilworth Lake also helped provide employment.
  
  
• The community is believed to have been a stop on The Underground Railroad as slaves made their way further north.
  
  
• The settlement would slowly dissolve into the early 1900s.
  
  
• The Milford Burial Ground would be utilized for several more decades for the interment of indigent people of color throughout Burlington and Camden counties.
  
  
• Grave markers remain in forested land near Evesham’s southwestern border, along what is now the end of Tomlinson Mill Road.
  
  
• In 2024, Evesham Township proudly acquired the land for historic preservation.
  
  
• In 2025, Evesham successfully petitioned to have the site officially accepted as part of The New Jersey Black Heritage Trail.