Old Saint Johns Cemetery
Lancaster, Lancaster County, Virginia, USA
Old Saint John's Cemetery is located on Calvary Lane near Harris Road in near Kilmarnock, Lancaster Co., Virginia, currently owned by four local Baptist churches: Mount Vernon, Sharon, Calvary, and New Saint John's. It was part of the original St. John's church, whose building disappeared in the 1890s. Established ca. 1868, it became the first and most significant historic post-Civil War African American burial ground in the county, believed to hold nearly 1,000 burials, most of which are unmarked and include later World War I and World War II veterans. Those burials and the history of the church and cemetery are detailed in a recent 2025 book, "Old Saint John's Cemetery: A New Look at a Forgotten Church and a Lost Cemetery in Kilmarnock, Virginia," by Kerry Petersen. Though mainly forgotten and hidden by dense overgrowth for decades, it is now undergoing a major restoration in 2025.
Old Saint John's Cemetery is located on Calvary Lane near Harris Road in near Kilmarnock, Lancaster Co., Virginia, currently owned by four local Baptist churches: Mount Vernon, Sharon, Calvary, and New Saint John's. It was part of the original St. John's church, whose building disappeared in the 1890s. Established ca. 1868, it became the first and most significant historic post-Civil War African American burial ground in the county, believed to hold nearly 1,000 burials, most of which are unmarked and include later World War I and World War II veterans. Those burials and the history of the church and cemetery are detailed in a recent 2025 book, "Old Saint John's Cemetery: A New Look at a Forgotten Church and a Lost Cemetery in Kilmarnock, Virginia," by Kerry Petersen. Though mainly forgotten and hidden by dense overgrowth for decades, it is now undergoing a major restoration in 2025.
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- Added: 1 Jan 2000
- Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 51527
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