by Judith E. Thomson
As chainsaws snarled and wood-chippers growled, an interracial, interdenominational, intergenerational group gathered on November 15 to begin a long-overdue task—reclaiming Old St. John’s Cemetery after nearly a century of neglect. Eighty-seven persons, representing 11 churches or organizations, participated.
Old St. John’s Cemetery is on Calvary Drive, just off Harris Road, in Kilmarnock. Many in the Northern Neck have passed by the historic cemetery without knowing it exists. Although remembered by the older generations within Lancaster County’s African American community, the wider public has remained largely unaware that it exists.
Now long-neglected, Old St. John’s Cemetery has fallen victim to vandals, trash and vegetation. Headstones have toppled and graves have….
