James Parks was a freed slave who is prominently buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He died at Freedman's Village in Arlington, Virginia.
The first graves in Arlington National Cemetery were dug by James Parks, a former Arlington Estate slave. Parks was freed in 1862 under the terms of the will of his former owner, George Washington Parke Custis. He still lived on Arlington Estate when Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signed the orders designating Arlington as a military burial ground. Parks served in the U.S. Army from 1861 to 1929 by working as a grave digger and maintenance man for the cemetery. When Parks died on Aug. 21, 1929, Secretary of War Henry Stimson granted special permission for him to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
James Parks is the only person buried in Arlington National Cemetery who was born on the property (1843).
Prior to his death Jim Parks gave specific locations for the wells, springs, slave quarters, the slave cemetery, dance pavilion, old roads, icehouse, blacksmith shop, and kitchens. He stated that all of his grandparents and parents were buried in the slave cemetery. At the time the article was written, the Department of Agriculture was in the process of uprooting the sacred ground for a farming area. It is not known what happened to the bodies interred in the slave cemetery.
At the time of his death he left behind one of the few slave accounts on record from which much of the restoration of Arlington House was based. His testimony provided a complete record of the people who inhabited the plantation, the slaves and the Custis-Lee family.
He is buried in Section 15, Grave 2, Map grid G 26 near Selfridge Gate (West Gate).
James Parks, an interesting, respectful, kindly old Negro: Born a slave at Arlington House Estate about 1843. Died Arlington County, Virginia, August 21, 1929. He belonged to George Washington Parkecustis, proprietor of Arlington Estate from 1781 to 1857. "Uncle Jim" lived and worked at Arlington practically the whole of his love and useful life, in appreciation of his faithful service the secretary of war granted special permission to bury his mortal remains in this National Cemetery. Equiescat in Peace.
