: Sites like the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground in Richmond (est. 1816) were once among the largest in the U.S. for free and enslaved people of color but faced decades of desecration from infrastructure projects.
Today, burying grounds are increasingly valued as open public spaces for education and reflection. burying ground
: By the late 18th century, many urban burying grounds became dangerously overcrowded—sometimes with bodies buried four-caskets deep—leading to health concerns over "exhalations" from open graves. Social & Racial Contexts : Sites like the Shockoe Hill African Burying
: Historic markers are fragile; preservationists often use specialized mortar and epoxy to repair stones broken by tree roots or frost cycles. Today, burying grounds are increasingly valued as open
Many historic burying grounds serve as critical archaeological records of marginalized communities whose histories were often excluded from written records.
: Institutions like the University of Richmond have recently published reports detailing the history of ancestral burying grounds on their land to foster "recognition, reckoning, and commemoration".