Near the James River, in Richmond’s historic Hollywood
Cemetery, a large cast-iron dog guards the grave of a
young girl, Florence Rees. A writer for the Washington
Post found the canine so inviting, she gave it an
obligatory pat on the head. Other visitors, she reported,
are so intrigued with this odd memorial, that they leave
trinkets such as coins or a collar made of ribbon (“Of
Grave Concern: At Three Stately Old-South Cemeteries in
Virginia, Grounds for Reflection,” October 27, 2004).
Except for Arlington’s National Cemetery, Hollywood
– named for the groves of holly trees on its grounds
– is perhaps one of the Old Dominion’s most
distinguished graveyards. Among the 80,000 buried there
are two presidents – James Monroe and John Tyler
– six governors, 25 generals, the 4-year-old son
of Jefferson Davis, who died in a fall from the Confederate
White House balcony, the novelist Ellen Glasgow and 22,000
Confederate soldiers.
Hollywood is but one of thousands of church, commercial,
community, family, military, slave and even national cemeteries
in the commonwealth. It was designed in 1847 as part of
the "rural
cemetery" movement, which in turn spawned the
development of urban parks. Nineteenth-century proponents
of “rural cemetery” design believed cemeteries
should be designed as destinations for leisure and respite,
as well as resting places for the departed. Such cemeteries
were placed around elevated views on the outskirts of
cities. Landscape architects would select a hilly, wooded
location, thin trees and plant shrub groupings that directed
the eye toward broad vistas. A gate would separate the
visitor from daily life and a winding drive was designed
to slow one’s pace.
As the major staging area for the Civil War, the commonwealth
has at least 15 national cemeteries, including the only
Jewish military cemetery outside of Israel. The
Cemetery for Hebrew Confederate Soldiers on Shockoe
Hill in Richmond is the resting place for close to 30
soldiers. The City Point National Cemetery in Hopewell,
which served as a Union supply depot, was established
to re-inter Civil War casualties from seven surrounding
hospital cemeteries, as well as battlefield plots. The
Balls Bluff National Cemetery in Leesburg in Loudoun County
has the remains of 54 soldiers who died during the Battle
of Balls Bluff during the Civil War. The name of only
one is known.
African-American cemeteries are also a part of the Virginia
landscape. The
Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg dates from 1806. More
than three-quarters of the graves are for African-Americans,
including pre-Civil War slaves and free blacks. Some of
the plots are marked only with a rock or a favorite toy
on a child’s grave.
In Norfolk, an African-American Civil War Memorial stands
near the burial spots for black Union veterans in the
West
Point Cemetery. James E. Fuller, a former slave and
former quartermaster in the First Union States Colored
Cavalry led the effort to erect the monument in 1909.
In 2004, a researcher discovered a slave cemetery near
Lexington that had markers with African symbols etched
on them. The ideograms are from the West African Igbo
culture and could be the only such examples in the U.S.
(“Virginia Cemetery Provides Glimpse to Slave-Trading
Past,” Black Issues in Higher Education,
April 8, 2004). For a list of some other African-American
cemeteries in Virginia, click here.
As development has encroached on rural areas in the commonwealth,
more and more churches and families are researching their
graveyards to make sure plots will not be disturbed, or,
if needed, can be moved. Forensic specialists and archeologists
from the Smithsonian Institute have been involved in researching
Civil War graves at an Episcopal Church in Culpepper and
moving graves away from possible development at a Virginia
plantation in Manassas (“Around the Mall and Beyond:
Excavating a Civil War Burial Site,” Smithsonian,
1990.)
Two months ago, archeologist Mark Jacobs, who works with
a consulting group, led a team that disinterred more than
30 bodies from the 19th-century Guinea Road cemetery in
Fairfax County before the Department of Transportation
widens an intersection near the site – thought to
be a free black or slave cemetery. The bodies will be
reburied in a cemetery just down the road. Team members
sifted through dirt carefully to find every bone fragment
and coffin nail. Out of respect, no one ate, drank, smoked
or listened to music as they worked. (“History Is
Moved, One Skeleton at a Time,” Washington Post,
April 26, 2006.)
As sources for art, natural beauty and history, Virginia’s
cemeteries tell many tales. But as cremation becomes more
popular, traditions are changing. In 2002, the Wall
Street Journal reported that the University of Richmond
had built a “columbarium” on campus and was
offering niches for urns to alums for $3,000 each. In
Charlottesville, the University of Virginia would provide
four-urn slots for $1,800 a piece. (“The New School
Spirit: Burial Plots for Alums – Cash-Hungry Universities
Sell Space in Campus Vaults; ‘You’ll See Me
in Box 12,’” July 10, 2002).
If cremation becomes more popular, future historians and
archeologists may have a more difficult time piecing together
stories from the graves of Virginia’s dearly departed.
June 12, 2006
Nice & Curious
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