By Staff Reports

Two bills recently signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe are designed to help preserve African American history for future generations, and that could be welcome news for some local preservation efforts, such as the Slave Meadow Cemetery in Meadows of Dan.

Bob Hefner launched a fundraising campaign to erect a granite monument through gofundme about two years ago. According to online information, $7,500 was the goal needed for the monument; $1,240 was raised.

The cemetery is located adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, situated on land now owned by the National Park Service. When the parkway was built in the 1930s, the stone markers that served as headstones were moved and not replaced, according to online information.

The park service installed a split rail fence around the cemetery in 2012, and found nine graves within the fenced in area, according to online information. However, local residents said more people had been buried outside of the fenced area.

Because the cemetery is on national park land, the superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway would have to approve the placement of a monument. Efforts to contact him before press time were unsuccessful.

In addition to Slave Meadow, Patrick County is home to other slave cemeteries. Identification of some of the families buried in them has been lost to time, according to online information.

For instance, only a few crude stone markers remain in the Elipahz Shelton Cemetery, located at the foot of Main Street in Stuart. In addition to Shelton family members, a few graves remain undisturbed, and are thought to be those of slaves. The markers are not inscribed.

A slave cemetery also is located at the Reynolds Homestead in Critz, and another is located in Ararat, situated on Laurel Hill/JEB Stuart Birthplace, according to online information.

“Unlike Confederate cemeteries, Black gravesites have gone centuries without state funds allocated for their maintenance and preservation,” McAuliffe said. “We are taking steps to reverse injustices the African American community has faced for generations.”

McAuliffe also signed HB 1547 to provide for the maintenance of 6,975 historic African American graves, monuments, and markers at the East End Cemetery in Richmond and Evergreen Cemetery in Roanoke.

Last week, McAuliffe signed HB 2296, which directs the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities to preserve and share significant sites and stories relating to the history of enslaved peoples in the Virginia.

“These two bills represent a new beginning and present an opportunity to make this Commonwealth a more inclusive, more just place for all its citizens,” the governor said.

Both bills had passed unanimously in the General Assembly, according to a release from McAuliffe’s office.