Service Without Freedom: Robert Butt and Laurel Hill’s Yellow Fever Monument
This program is offered both in-person at Laurel Hill West and online (Zoom). the zoom link will be emailed to all registrants 3 hours prior to the event.
Join City of Camden Historic Preservation Specialist Dolly Marshall for a special Black History Month presentation about the life of Memory Worker and Sexton Robert “Bob” Butt, an enslaved man who came to Philadelphia from Norfolk, Virginia, in 1859 to raise funds to purchase the freedom of his wife, children, and himself.
As a cemetery worker, Mr. Butt was responsible for preparing the graves of over 1,159 people during the Norfolk yellow fever epidemic of 1855. Many people perished, including Northern doctors, nurses, and medical students from Philadelphia who were sent to Norfolk as first responders.
Mr. Butt personally accompanied their remains for obsequies and burial at Laurel Hill. The Yellow Fever Monument was erected at Laurel Hill East to memorialize the 15 Philadelphia volunteers who contracted and died of the yellow fever while helping in Norfolk (12 of whom are buried under the monument), but is also a remembrance of the bravery and self-sacrifice of all who volunteered to help in Norfolk — including Robert Butt.
In the words of another who knew him: “No coffin too heavy; no corpse too corrupt; no labor too crushing for Bob Butt.”
If you have time before the presentation at Laurel Hill West (215 Belmont Avenue in Bala Cynwyd), we encourage you to visit the Yellow Fever Monument at Laurel Hill East (3822 Ridge Avenue in Philadelphia). The two cemeteries are about a 10-15 minute drive from one another.
