Old City Cemetery

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401 Taylor Street, Lynchburg, Virginia 24501(434) 847-1465

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Learning about gravestone carving Photo - Old City Cemetery, Lynchburg, Virginia

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Old City Cemetery

by zabelle

Portland, Connecticut

January 29, 2008

Best of IgoUgo Would you be surprised to know that the reason I came to Lynchburg was to visit Old City Cemetery? In all honesty I have written about quite a few cemeteries in my time and most of them were all about who was buried there. Visiting this cemetery had ...Read more Would you be surprised to know that the reason I came to Lynchburg was to visit Old City Cemetery? In all honesty I have written about quite a few cemeteries in my time and most of them were all about who was buried there. Visiting this cemetery had nothing to do with that at all. It was more about the customs associated with burial and traditions that we came here to learn about.

The first stop was the Hearse House Caretakers Museum. This is dedicated to the men who were responsible for the care and upkeep of the City Cemetery. The first caretaker was appointed by the city of Lynchburg to take care of the Confederate section in 1866. Between 1866 and 1934 there were 12 sexton/caretakers who mostly lived on cemetery property. Over the years the job was expanded from just caretaking to include digging graves and taking care of the whole cemetery. The position since that time has been held by city employees who rotated between properties. Since 1999 they have again been assigned two dedicated caretakers.

The Hearse aspect of the museum includes a wagon which was the most common form of hearse for the average person and also a much more elaborate turn of the century hearse that would have been used by the more well to do customers. The elaborate Heart belonged to the Diuguid Funeral Home; they are the second oldest funeral home in the United States having been in business since 1817. When this type of hearse was used for an adult they would use black horses, when it was a child they used white horses.75%of the burials in the Old City Cemetery were African-Americans and they used different funeral homes however the Diuguld Hearst could be rented.

Another building to visit is the Pest House Medical Museum. It was moved to the cemetery from another location in Lynchburg. This is where the victims of contagious diseases would have been taken. Things like diphtheria, cholera and smallpox. The idea was to isolate them to help contain the contamination. The building was originally on the farm of Doctor John Terrell. In 1862 Doctor Terrell heard about the appalling conditions of soldiers in the pest house and offered to take over their care. The museum now has his operating table as well as other medical instruments that he used.

My favorite part of the Cemetery was the Mourning Museum. This document s the Victorian customs associated with mourning. There is a short video that you can watch and there is also a costume museum. The Victorians took mourning very seriously and everything from color of clothing to jewelry and artwork made from the beloved’s hair are featured. This is very interesting small museum which also deals with embalming, coffins and embalming but mostly the etiquette of mourning.

Just driving through the cemetery is interesting. There are some beautiful monuments, a chapel and of course some lovely plants and flowers.
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Old City Cemetery