Thousands of headstones and markers have been recovered as part of a restoration of historic Woodland Cemetery. Now, they’re more accessible thanks to work to rebuild and repave its network of interior roads following decades of overgrowth and neglect.
Officials from the cemetery, Liesfeld Contractor and Henrico County gathered this morning to celebrate the newly improved roads, which cover about 1 mile and include the entrance off Magnolia Road. Woodland was established in 1917 for the interment of Black residents during segregation.
“On behalf of the descendants who always thought this place was inaccessible, it’s accessible now,” declared John Mitchell, executive director of the nonprofit Woodland Restoration Foundation. “The elderly that come out here now will feel safer. They will have more access to what they need to do.”
Liesfeld and its affiliated company Gillies Creek Industrial Recycling supported the work after contacting county officials a year ago in hopes of identifying a community project in eastern Henrico, said William Roberts, business development and program manager for Liesfeld.
“When you walk these grounds, you start to understand what this place is – a 1917 cemetery that had been lost to neglect and a community that has fought to bring it back. You want to feel the weight of it,” he said. “These roads matter. The families who come here to visit their loved ones deserve to be able to get to them, so Liesfeld got to work.”
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation provided grant funding to support the effort. The cemetery still has several miles of unimproved roads, and it’s seeking a golf cart to help visitors access the grounds.
“I think it is fair to say that work remains to be done here, and I am sure that Mr. Mitchell is busy planning the next steps in this ongoing restoration,” Board of Supervisors Chair Roscoe D. Cooper III said. “But I think it’s also clear that we have come a long way in the last six years.”
For more information on the foundation’s work, visit woodlandrestorationfoundation.org.
