Within the National Historic District of Granite, exists a Baltimore County designated historic African American community. Granite is a quiet, but beautiful and tranquil community, located at the extreme western end of Baltimore County where Old Court Road terminates at the Patapsco River. This community was alive and thriving with African Americans from the 1700s to the mid-1900s. The community is slowly facing extinction of its African American residents. Of the many African Americans that resided in Granite, albeit many were slaves, today there are only two with ancestrial links to the community still residing there.
During the slavery era, the Worthington brought "an army of slaves" to work in Granite to toil in the many granite quarries that dot the area.
Cherry Hill A.U.M.P. Church that was abandoned in the 1970s. The church
was built in 1896. It has recently been turned over to "The Friends
of the Cherry Hill A.U.M.P. Church" with hopes of restoring it and
converting it to some type of museum.
A 1930s May Day procession at the Catholic Church in Granite. When the
Jesuits came to Granite right after the ending of slavery, they brough
many of their former slaves with them to help build and maintain
Woodstock College. Many of these descendants are members of the church there.
Inside the original one-room African American school house that was
located on Old Court Road. It has been there since the 1800s. It has
been converted to a family home.
Daisy Conway Burley who was born and reared in Granite. Photograph was
taken in the 1920s.