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Hidden beneath a brush of foliage in Tennessee, 28 graves of enslaved people were discovered at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage by a team led by OHIO alumnus Tony Guzzi, who majored in history. 

“The enslaved cemetery is one of the most powerful places here on site to get a sense of place because it’s the one area where you know slavery is real,” said Guzzi, a history graduate who has worked at the site for three decades. 

The burial ground, pinpointed using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), marks the first physical confirmation of a cemetery long documented in historical records. 

The discovery began with a donor-funded effort to locate the cemetery using clues from a 1935 agricultural report. Guzzi’s team partnered with to cross-reference hand-drawn maps, aerial photographs and property surveys. 

“We took that hand-drawn document that outlined the field and said there were graves and large trees in one corner of it,” Guzzi explained. “From there, we geo-referenced it with Vanderbilt University.”

The search area, a five-acre plot near a creek, was choked with invasive privet and honeysuckle.

“We had to clear out all that underbrush just so archaeologists could look at the ground,” Guzzi said. After removing the overgrowth, depressions in the soil and upright limestone slabs signaled possible graves. GPR later confirmed 28 burial sites in rows matching historical records of enslaved individuals who died at the Hermitage. 

Guzzi’s team now turns to a committee of descendants and community leaders to guide the site’s future. 

“We’re really turning now to descendant voices and the members of a larger community to define how to treat this property for the long term,” he said. 

Guzzi also talked about the challenges people face when uncovering old graves. 

“In Middle Tennessee, graves that are this old don’t tend to have a lot of material left,” Guzzi said. “So, in actually uncovering the grave, you oftentimes end up destroying what’s left.”

For now, visitors can view the graves through a fence. 

“The gravestones that are there are simply pieces of stone, limestone, turned up on end. They’re not in the ground the way limestone normally sits. They’re there to mark a grave. Very few of them are still visible from the surface,” Guzzi said. 

The Hermitage’s existing memorial to enslaved people, built in 2009, is located on the same property as the newly discovered cemetery.

“Every year during Black History Month, we have a service at the memorial,” Guzzi said. “This year, we’re inviting descendants to join us. Hopefully, we’ll see them in person and get to know them.”

Archaeological features uncovered at the site, including enslaved housing foundations, brick patios, swept yards and root cellars modified by enslaved individuals, are cataloged in a public database.

“Anyone can research them through a website called DAACS,” Guzzi said, referencing the . “It’s the only 1820s plantation in the South with this level of accessible data.”

When asked about DNA testing, he said, “That’s not something we’ve really looked at. It’s certainly something that could be done, but that’s something we need more people to be involved in because we can’t identify any one of those graves as being a specific person.”

The Hermitage’s broader mission includes outreach to schools.

“We have about 220,000 people come here annually, including school children,” Guzzi said. “When you come here, you’ll learn about the history of Jackson and the history of the slaves who lived here hand-in-hand. It's not a story that you have to take a special tour for; our tours talk about it.”

For students, his words offer a roadmap: Approach history with rigor, humility and respect for those who lived it.