Through her research, she learned that an area with a few scattered rocks and overgrown with weeds and grass is the gravesite of George Hall, an African American farmhand who frequently moved with his wife, Mary, and their children, George Jr. and Elizabeth, in search of work. In 1868, an illness took the lives of the family and the gravesite was most likely established hastily. A nearby white family died of the same illness,
but the site of their burial is a beautiful fenced-in area with carved headstones.
Frustrated by the injustice, Mahadevan wants to beautify the Hall gravesite but is unable to because it is on private property, and the owners don’t want to draw attention to it. She is currently working with her upper school dean, who is a history teacher, to write letters to county officials to advocate for putting a plaque in the town hall or on the road leading to the property.
Because of her research on the gravesite, Mahadevan is working as a tour guide with the Black Heritage Trail, an organization that recognizes sites in the town. She has recorded an “On the Trail” video about the Hall family, which can be found on the Black Heritage Trail’s YouTube Channel.
The Hall family gravesite is on farmland on Nute Road in Madbury, New Hampshire.
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