Places: a columbarium and chapel in Lynchburg's Old City Cemetery

Abstract

The increased awareness of the cemetery and its importance to the city's history created numerous requests for the purchase of burial plots. As a result, a 1965 ordinance that had ended the sale of burial plots in the cemetery was overturned allowing for the interment or dispersal of ashes on the cemetery's grounds.

Despite it's rediscovery, the Old City Cemetery remains a tranquil place. Today, visitors come for various reasons. For many, the cemetery's Confederate section, surrounded by 10 foot boxwoods and filled with majestic sugar maples looming over rows of small stone markers, is the main attraction. But for others, the cemetery is a place of solitude. Panoramic views of the distant mountains and the timeless essence of this "garden cemetery" provide an atmosphere for contemplation.