Historic Black Woodland Cemetery to celebrate 107th anniversary with restored foundation, new historical marker

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Woodland Cemetery, a historic Black cemetery where the likes of Arthur Ashe, Jr. and Zenobia Gilpin are interred, is celebrating its 107th anniversary this June with the unveiling of its restored foundation and a new historical marker.

The Woodland Restoration Foundation, which purchased the cemetery in 2020 and has been working to restore the heavily-neglected property ever since, will host this anniversary celebration on June 1.

According to a May 27 press release, this celebration will include a “flip of the switch” on the property’s restored foundation, as well as the unveiling of a historical marker, reportedly made by volunteers.

“In the past year, Historic Woodland Cemetery has hosted scheduled workdays with 1,750 volunteers attending,” said the foundation in the release. “The Woodland Restoration Foundation has worked tirelessly to secure funding, improve conditions and educate the community about Historic Woodland Cemetery. We invite you all to come and tour this wonderful space.”

In past years, the foundation has made notable progress at the cemetery. Thousands of graves were previously uncovered and made accessible to visitors as acres of overgrown vegetation were cleared away.

This 29-acre cemetery, located east of Richmond’s Highland Park neighborhood, opened in 1917 during the Jim Crow era for Black Richmond-area residents.

Several notable Black leaders and trailblazers call Woodland Cemetery their final resting place — though some were reinterred at Woodland following the desecration of the cemeteries they were previously buried in.

This includes Rev. John Jasper and William Washington Browne, two Black community leaders whose graves were moved to Woodland for their protection. According to the release, white families moving into these areas complained about the funerals and gatherings held by Black people when their loved ones passed.

Establishing Historic Black cemeteries like Woodland allowed Black communities to have a place of their own.

“A community that was largely mistreated and forgotten, could gather and feel seen, remembered and appreciated for their efforts to a city who would ultimately make several attempts to push them further into the unread pages of its history,” the foundation said.

Other notable Black people interred at Woodland include Arthur Ashe, Jr., a champion tennis player and civil rights activist, as well as Dr. Zenobia Gilpin, who spent her career providing medical care to the Black community in a time when many other clinics would not see Black patients.

The foundation said it hopes that, by restoring the space, locals can reconnect with these notable Black residents, returning Woodland Cemetery to what it once was — “a place of dignity, respect and peace.”

CORRECTION: This article has been updated with the accurate date for the celebration, provided by the Woodland Restoration Foundation in a corrected release.

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