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African American graveyards roundup
In the last few months, within the state of Virginia alone, I have heard from or about: Fluvanna County Historical Society‘s recovery efforts at two nineteenth-century burial grounds for African Americans: Oak Hill Cemetery in West Bottom, and Free Hill Cemetery in Columbia A neighborhood movement to protest a casino proposal adjoining historic black graves…
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Attack on Hollywood Cemetery
Grave vandalism has a long history. Richmond’s prized Hollywood Cemetery was even targeted during the Civil War, where in June 1863, “two china vases, containing bouquets, were deposited upon a grave, and stolen almost as soon as left,” and reporters heard “of plants being torn up by the roots, and every species of sacrilege perpetrated…
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East End’s letter to Governor Northam
If you’ve followed this web site’s news section, you’ve seen our consternation and disappointment regarding the Enrichmond Foundation’s management of Evergreen and East End Cemeteries. Enrichmond was ill-equipped to steward these two critical and fragile properties, but state agencies and politicians threw them in Enrichmond’s lap after 2016 without much of a plan. Since then,…
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Truman family burial ground
A site in eastern Henrico County, along Long Bridge Road, has yielded important new discoveries. After the Capital Region Land Conservancy purchased the 40-acre tract in 2020, it commissioned the William & Mary Center for Archaeological Research to assess the property. Archaeologists found projectile points dating to 3,000 BCE indicating an indigenous camp site. The…
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Sarah Whiting’s new graveyard story
Sarah Whiting, executive director of the St. John’s Church Foundation, has announced that she is taking a new job at the Valentine Museum. That is great news for the Valentine but may mean a period of transition for the active programs Sarah has developed for St. John’s churchyard, site of the city of Richmond’s first…
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Storming the U. S. Capitol
Yesterday, on January 6, 2021, thousands of supporters of the president left a rally in DC protesting the election results to march on the United States Capitol. Hundreds breached security perimeters and broke into the capitol building where Congress was in session to certify the results of the electoral college vote. The president encouraged the…
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“Knowledge of this cannot be hidden” at the University of Richmond
The University of Richmond has recently installed interpretive signage for a burying ground for the enslaved that dates back to the West End campus’s previous usage as a plantation. It is located near the center of campus at the base of the steam plant. The university has also convened a Burial Ground Memorialization Committee, chaired…
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Book release
How do you release a book in the middle of a pandemic and a contested election? By recognizing it is not the most important thing in the world, of course. But also by relying on your friends – starting with Richmond’s own Chop Suey Books, who will be hosting my book talk for Death and…
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Three minutes each at the horror show
Imagine having ancestors buried in Richmond’s East End Cemetery, or simply caring about this important and historic site. Then, imagine learning that the site’s new owner, the Enrichmond Foundation, discovered human remains exposed at a crumbling bank on July 20, 2020, around the same time that the Foundation had blocked longtime volunteer leaders from continuing…
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Second African Burial Ground on the rise
Two enormously promising developments have occurred lately to shift the prospects and recognition for the second African Burial Ground (aka the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground aka the Burial Ground for Free People of Colour and Slaves). Recall that the burial ground opened in 1816 by the city of Richmond for the burial of black…