Richmond's First Municipal African Cemetery

In 1799 the City of Richmond acquired land in this area for its first municipal burial ground for enslaved and free Africans and people of African descent. One of several town gallows was located here. Objecting to this and other indignities, including frequent flooding that disturbed burials, free Black Richmonders petitioned for a new cemetery. In 1816 the City opened the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground a mile north of here. By 1957, Interstate 95 and parking lots covered much of the original cemetery. Beginning in the early 2000s, community activists led an ultimately successful campaign to reclaim, protect, and memorialize the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground.