Richmond Cemeteries

Exploring Richmond Virginia’s Historic Burial Grounds

Author: RyanSmith

  • Gravestone carver registry

    Just offering out here the idea to create a registry/index of stonecarvers who worked in central Virginia in the 19th and 20th centuries, as that idea was just offered to me by Joanna Wilson Green at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Hopefully we can follow up with another post with an announcement along those…

  • Enrichmond update/My conclusion with John Sydnor

    John Sydnor is apparently no longer with the Enrichmond Foundation. He had served as Enrichmond’s executive director since 2011, with the support of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and other political allies, and he was a central player in Enrichmond’s dismaying stewardship of Evergreen and East End Cemeteries. Way back in June 2017, I met Sydnor…

  • What the Dog Knows

    Last week I was able to witness something special in our region’s cemeteries — the work of cadaver dogs and their handlers trying to discern the nature of a burial ground’s landscape. The primary advocate for Richmond’s Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, Lenora McQueen, had seen a 2021 presentation by Cat Warren on how cadaver…

  • State funding extended for African American graves

    Last week, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed into law Senate Bill 477 and House Bill 140, together the work of Senator Jennifer McClellan and Delegate Delores McQuinn. The new rules expand the basis for eligibility under the Virginia Historical African American Cemeteries and Grave Fund. Previously, the state provided maintenance funding for the total number…

  • A moment to celebrate for Shockoe Hill

    Hooray! This morning, the state review board and the board of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources at their quarterly meeting both unanimously approved our nomination of the “Shockoe Hill Burying Ground Historic District,” for listing on the Virginia landmarks register. This step moves the nomination forward to the National Park Service for listing on…

  • Discovering unmarked graves at East End Cemetery

    East End Cemetery, like the adjoining Evergreen Cemetery, the city’s “Colored Paupers Cemetery,” and so many other historic African American cemeteries, features a very large number of unmarked graves. Starting in 2013, the volunteer Friends of East End Cemetery pushed back the overgrowth to uncover and identify over 3,300 grave markers at East End, all…

  • Women Writers Buried in Virginia

    There’s a new book on the area’s cemeteries to celebrate: Sharon Pajka’s Women Writers Buried in Virginia, published in November 2021. Sharon is a faculty member in the English Department at Gallaudet University and an exceptionally creative and kind colleague. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia and a graduate certificate from the…

  • Vandalism at Hebrew Cemetery

    In the first week of November, I walked through Richmond’s Hebrew Cemetery to take some photographs of the area for study. The site and those around it continue to fascinate, and one student in my undergraduate classes this semester is pursuing a research project related to the cemetery. But only a few steps inside the…

  • “Gravediggers” at Oakwood Cemetery

    The word on the street is that “Gravediggers” (alternatively titled “Raymond and Ray”) starring Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor is filming at Richmond’s Oakwood Cemetery this month. The casting call for extras can be seen here. Apparently, the story centers on two troubled half brothers. It is unclear which elements of Oakwood Cemetery appealed to…

  • Approaching the National Register – Shockoe Hill

    The Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground — what I had referred to as Richmond’s “second African Burial Ground” in my earlier publications — has been increasingly gaining publicity. This is largely due to the untiring efforts of descendant/researcher Lenora McQueen, who has enlisted valuable support from Preservation Virginia, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the…