Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 03/18/2010
NRHP Listing Date 06/24/2010
NRHP Reference Number 10000382
The Daughters of Zion Cemetery is named for the African American mutual aid society that purchased the land and established the cemetery in 1873. An alternative burying ground for blacks to Charlottesville’s segregated, mostly white municipal Oakwood Cemetery, Daughters of Zion Cemetery is one of the few sites in the city today directly linked to one of the Reconstruction-era aid societies. These societies played a vital role in developing black communities after the Civil War, in Charlottesville and elsewhere around Virginia. The period of significance for the Daughters of Zion Cemetery extends from 1873 to around 1933, when the Daughters of Zion disbanded and a majority of the two-acre cemetery’s 641 burials had occurred.
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: April 14, 2022
