Old City Cemetery

Old City Cemetery. Also known as the Old Methodist Cemetery. , This 1929 map of the boundaries of the Old City Cemetery is the only known record available to locate graves “within the walls” in the older section of the cemetery. Even today no records exist for grave locations throughout the cemetery other than the general designation “Potter's Field”, or within the Confederate Section, where precise records were kept by George A. Diuguid during the Civil War., Established in 1806, the first acre of ground was given by the City’s founder, John Lynch. Now encompassing approximately twenty-five acres, the cemetery boundaries have been expanded throughout its history. Originally, citizens “claimed” a plot and were responsible for its upkeep. Thus family plots were defined by stone walls, wrought iron enclosures or, simply, corner markers. Many irregularities existed., There are many thousands more citizens buried within the cemetery than existing tombstones would indicate. Estimates of over 20,000 burials by 1925, with no record of locations, prompted the first closing of the cemetery. Burials continued, however, until a second closing in 1965 restricted burials to the area “outside the wall” and then only by special permission. Today the only parts of the cemetery still in active use are the Scatter Garden, for the cremated remains of Lynchburg citizens and New Potter’s Field., (caption) , Seated: Mrs. John H. Lewis (Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne) 1851-1946 An officer of the Southern Memorial Association for over fifty years., Standing: Mrs. James A. Scott (Anne Norvell Otey) 1872-1948, The Southern Memorial Association, founded in 1866, was originally composed of ladies devoted to the cause of honoring the soldiers buried in the Confederate Section and preserving their memory with monuments, grave markers, and memorial services.