Old City Cemetery, also known as the Methodist Cemetery, was established as a public burial ground in 1806 on land donated by John Lynch, founder of Lynchburg. Mayors and other prominent civic leaders, along with the city's indigent and "strangers," are among the estimated 20,000 people buried here. Three quarters of those interred here are of African descent, both enslaved and free. The cemetery's Confederate section contains the graves of more than 2,200 soldiers from 14 states. Museums on the property interpret the diverse history of this rehabilitated graveyard and its inhabitants. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
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