Fairview Cemetery

Fairview Cemetery was founded in 1869 by Mount Zion Baptist Church and Augusta Street United Methodist Church. In the mid-19th century the cemetery was located outside of the Staunton City limits in the heart of an African-American community named Sandy Hollow, one of several African-American communities in Augusta County. The cemetery is one of the few vestiges remaining of the Sandy Hollow community.

Fairview Cemetery was developed during two different time periods, the mid 1800's and the early 1900's. The 19th-century period can be identified in the landscape by randomly placed, unmarked graves, and mature vegetation. These characteristics are similar to those of a rural cemetery, illustrating patterns of Free Black and slave burial traditions. The portion of the cemetery developed after 1900 can be characterized as a typical park cemetery of its time. The cemetery as a whole represents changing patterns in gravestone styles.

The six-acre cemetery features mature vegetation, distinctive tombstones from the 19th and 20th centuries, and a panoramic view. The grounds also contain a bungalow-style house built around 1875 and two concrete equipment sheds. [Description from findagrave.com - Fairview Cemetery on findagrave.com]

Facts

 * Fairview Cemetery is the eighth largest cemetery in Augusta County, with 1,780+ memorials as of July, 2020.