History

Jackson Street Methodist Episcopal Church (now Jackson Street United Methodist Church) established White Rock Cemetery in 1882 in what was then Campbell County. It was the first independent African American burial ground opened in the Hill City.

The first burial was 22-year-old William Kent on March 12, 1882. Usage peaked in the mid-1930’s after the controversial closure of the City Cemetery in 1925 and before the opening of Forest Hill Burial Park in 1937. There have been very few burials in White Rock Cemetery (WRC) since about 1960. The last interment was Merrill Chambers Lee Burton in 2006.

WRC was created for the Jackson Street Methodist congregation, but by the early 20th century, it was open to all denominations. It was organized partly as an alternative to the City Cemetery, the only other public cemetery open to Black residents. The City Cemetery was inconsistently maintained, recordkeeping was poor, and interments were strictly segregated by race. Many families also feared that loved ones who planned to be buried in the public cemetery would instead be sent to medical schools in Charlottesville or Richmond for dissection, as was permitted by state law.

A caretaker was employed at WRC until the 1960’s, after which the cemetery became badly overgrown. Serious and consistent restoration did not begin until 1998, when Laura Munson organized Historic White Rock Cemetery, Inc., to oversee clean-up and preservation efforts. In 2002 the organization acquired the house at 2414 High Street for future use as an office and museum.

The WRC grounds are filled with hundreds of unique grave markers from the late-19th and 20th centuries. Learn more about them here.