January 21, 2012 — On the first day for an accumulation of wintry precipitation this season, a reflective silence surrounds the old Cecil County Cemetery and Poorhouse as freshly fallen snow blankets the almshouse on a Saturday morning in January. The Potters Field, the final resting place for paupers who couldn’t afford a burial, is located across from Mt. Aviat Academy.
On the grounds of what was the county poorhouse, it contains some 150 to 200 unmarked graves. The Almshouse opened about 1776 and closed in 1952 when the county put the property up for sale. It was purchased by Elk Paper Manufacturing Company and the new owner donated part of the tract to the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales for Mt. Aviat Academy, a Catholic Elementary school.
The order, founded in Troyes, France, opened its first convent in the United States at the old Poorhouse in Childs. Since then, they have ministered at Mount Aviat Academy and several schools in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. They maintain the Potters Field, and members of the order are buried there today.
Is the builidng used for anything now?
John the sisters use it as part of the Academy. The older structure, the ones shown in this picture, are from the 1800s and are used for the convent. They also still use the poorhouse cemetery to bury members of the order.