our heritage:fredericksburg’s cemeteries

OUR HERITAGE

fredericksburg’s historic cemeteries

Learning about Fredericksburg's historic cemeteries can help you understand the individual stories of adventure, exploration, commerce, immigration, social mobility, government, opportunity, and the less obvious but sustaining values of family. Deaths inform us of disease, fire, drowning, infant and maternal mortality, pandemics, and war. When Fredericksburg was settled in 1728, its first graveyard was set aside at the Church. As a colony of England, the Church of England was an arm of government. After the Revolution, that church became the Episcopal Church. The oldest graveyard in town is that of St. George ' s Episcopal Church, established in 1728. The earliest legible gravestone, that of John Jones, reads 1752. The next oldest cemetery was established in 1784, just one block away from St. George's. This is the Masonic Cemetery at the corner of George and Charles streets. The Masonic Lodge continues to look after this cemetery. Just 3 years after the Masonic Cemetery was established, the C o r p o r a t i o n Burying Ground was established where Hurkamp Park is today. This cemetery existed until 1853. Before it was closed, it had been declared a nuisance, was filled with litter, and pigs ran loose, disturbing the graves. To remedy the problem, business owners purchased a three-acre field, and in 1844, the Fredericksburg City Cemetery was established. Despite its name, this cemetery was never a municipal entity. It is a private non-profit concern, managed by a volunteer board of directors. The local landscape changed again with the Civil War. The women of Fredericksburg took it upon themselves to bury the Confederate dead. In May 1866, the Ladies Memorial Association was formed. The association purchased land adjacent to the City Cemetery, which is now the burial site of 3,553 soldiers, and continues to manage it today. The Union dead-more than 15,000-are buried in the National Cemetery on Lafayette Boulevard. It is run by the National Park Service. Shiloh Cemetery, established in 1882, is managed by a board representing three churches, Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site), Shiloh Baptist Church (New Site), and Mount Zion Baptist Church. Among those buried there are Joseph F. Walker and Jason C. Grant, whose names are memorialized on two of the city's schools for their roles in the education of Black students. The city maintains two historic cemeteries, the Gordon Cemetery at the Mary Washington Monument site on Washington Avenue and the Thornton, Forbes, Washington Cemetery on Hunter Street. The latter contains the oldest

Masonic Cemetery by Francis Benjamin Johnston, Library of Congress Collection known burial in town, that of Col. Francis Thornton, III (1749). Discussions are under way to form a Consortium of Fredericksburg ' s Historic Cemeteries as an independent entity under Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. The consortium would not replace the individual ownership of each cemetery but would help support volunteer efforts. Shared resources, including an office, could consolidate and protect the important records held by each organization and support preservation efforts.

St. George ’ s Cemetery by Francis Benjamin Johnston, Library of Congress Collection City Cemetery Gate Courtesy of Fredericksburg City Cemetery

The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center is a non-profit, all-volunteer archives whose mission is to preserve historically valuable material ofthe region and make it available to the public for research

900 Barton St #111, Fredericksburg, VA www.crhcarchives.org contact@crhcarchives.org 540-373-3704

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By Jeanette rowe cadwallender

Jeanette Rowe Cadwallender is a Fredericksburg native, President of the Board of the Fredericksburg Cemetery Co. Inc., and a member of the Ladies Memorial Association