Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy and once one of the most prosperous cities in the United States, is home to a range of cemeteries that tell the story of American trends in honoring the dead. African slaves were interred in Shockoe Bottom's so-called "burial ground for negroes," US presidents James Monroe and John Tyler were buried in Hollywood Cemetery, and Civil War soldiers were commemorated throughout the metropolis; indeed, the River City has laid blacks and whites to rest in flood zones and on rolling hills alike. During and shortly after the Civil War, Richmond worked to accommodate thousands of new graves. Today, Richmonders work to preserve and celebrate the past while making way for the future.
Native Virginian Christine Stoddard is an award-winning writer and artist. She is the director of the documentary films The Persistence of Poe and Richmond's Dead and Buried and the editor of Quail Bell Magazine. Misty Thomas is a writer who specializes in fantasy and the supernatural. She has made Richmond her home since spring 2013. Dr. Ryan K. Smith is a professor of American religious history and material culture at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he teaches a regular course on Richmond's cemeteries.