Slave and African American Cemetery

Slave and African American Cemetery. . These simple fieldstones mark the resting place of slaves and African Americans who worked at Red Hill, making it among the most productive tobacco plantations along the Staunton River during the 18th and 19th centuries., When Patrick Henry moved his family to Red Hill in the early 1790s, they were accompanied by a number of slaves, many of who had been with his household for over thirty years., Most of the fieldstones in this cemetery are believed to mark the graves of slaves who worked on the Red Hill plantation during the 18th and 19th centuries. After the Civil War, many of the newly freed slaves and their families continued to reside and work at Red Hill as hired laborers into the twentieth century, and some of these individuals are believed to be buried here as well., The one marked headstone is that of Matilda Pannel. Matilda, whose maiden name is lost to time, was married to Harry Pannel after the Civil War and had at least sixteen children. Many of her descendants still live in the vicinity of Red Hill. . This historical marker was erected by Red Hill, Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation. It is in Brookneal in Campbell County Virginia