014-0052 Stanton Family Cemetery

For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF

VLR Listing Date 02/17/1993

NRHP Listing Date 04/29/1993

NRHP Reference Number 93000350

Started in 1853, the Stanton Family Cemetery is a very rare surviving burying ground established by free blacks prior to the Civil War. The Stantons were one of the few extended free black families living in rural Virginia at the height of the slavery period. The unfenced plot, located in northeastern Buckingham County, contains at least thirty-six marked burials, a large number for African American family cemeteries, and likely holds additional unmarked burials. Many of the graves have simple uninscribed headstones and footstones of the local slate. The Stanton Family Cemetery was originally part of the a forty-six-acre farm purchased in 1853 by Nancy and Daniel Stanton. Although the family moved from the homestead in 1930, it retained ownership of the land and the cemetery, and continued family burials there. The last occurred in 1941 when Harriet Stanton Scott, granddaughter of Nancy and Daniel Stanton, was interred.

Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.

Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark

Updated: January 14, 2022