Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/08/2006
NRHP Listing Date 08/31/2006
NRHP Reference Number 06000748
The Elliott Grays Marker, in Richmond, is one of 16 granite markers erected (1927–47) in Virginia along the commemoratively designated Jefferson Davis Highway (U.S. 1). Following the creation of the Lincoln Highway in 1913, the United Daughters of the Confederacy conceived the idea of linking 3,417 miles of various roads from Arlington to San Diego and naming the route for the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, with signs designating the highway. The UDC promoted the Davis highway in educational brochures and maps nationwide and it considers the highway and affiliated markers to be one of its greatest undertakings. The four-foot tall Grays marker, set on a concrete base, reads: “Jefferson Davis / Highway / This tree marks the / site of Battery 17 of / the inner defenses of / Richmond, 1862-65, and / is planted in soil taken / from battlefields / A memorial to / Confederate Soldiers / by the Elliott Grays / Chapter U.D.C. 1929.” (The tree died many years ago.) The UDC chapter took its name from Company I, 6th Virginia Infantry, The Elliott Grays, a Civil War militia unit organized in Chesterfield County. The Elliott Grays Marker was listed in the registers under the UDC Commemorative Highway Markers along the Jefferson Davis Highway in Virginia Multiple Property Document (MPD).
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: May 1, 2023
