A piece of Lynchburg’s history is about to get some modern new digs.
The Old City Cemetery broke ground Wednesday on a building expansion that will provide an archive vault and research library. The project’s completion, expected in December, will mark the first time the cemetery has had a proper place to store its historic records.
“We have a lot of rare, irreplaceable documents, but we haven’t been able to store them up to museum standards before,” said cemetery board member Carolyn Bell. “Now we will. And these precious things will be kept safe.”
The cemetery collection includes the largest intact set of burial records in the country. The oldest papers date back to 1818.
The new vault, part of a 640-square-foot addition to the cemetery’s main office, will offer a secure, fireproof storage space for those artifacts. It will also be climate-controlled to allow for better preservation of the aging papers.
This article has been updated to remove an error. Contrary to the original report, Old City Cemetery does offer several interment options, including a scatter garden and columbarium niches and crypts. Cemetery managers also say they allow traditional graves to be added to existing plots provided the deceased has an immediate relative in the plot and there is sufficient room.
The expansion will also include general office space and a research library where the public can peruse the cemetery collection. Computer stations will be included to allow visitors to view digital copies of older items that, due to their age, cannot be made available for direct viewing. The new library will also double as meeting space.
This project, expected to cost about $195,000, was funded by donations from the estates of Edith Brooks Lee, Eleanor J. Taylor and Dr. Robert Morrison. The research library will be named after Lee, a former Lynchburg educator.
Executive Director Bruce Christian said they felt the addition of a research library fit in perfectly with the overall mission of the cemetery.
“This is a place where people and scholars can come and read and work,” he said. “It’s something we’ve had no space for before now.”
The expansion project was initiated by the Southern Memorial Association, a nonprofit agency that manages the cemetery and its educational programs for the city. Construction will be done by C.L. Lewis & Company Inc. of Lynchburg.
The cemetery, originally founded in 1806, is home to an estimated 20,000 graves. People buried there include city leaders, paupers, slaves and Confederate soldiers.
The site also includes several historical buildings and an impressive collection of antique roses. Today, it is one of the area’s most visited attractions.
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