Evergreen Cemetery

In February 2024 the City of Richmond VA assumed ownership of Evergreen Cemetery, a historically African American cemetery founded in 1891. When I visited this cemetery in 2022, I found that volunteers had cleared enough of the land for me to find my ancestors burial plot. I had the plot restored. In August 2025 I found that the Dept of Parks had taken over maintenance as evidenced by my recent photo. I rated the cemetery 3 stars because it is now maintained but not fully restored. One can safely visit without wading through thick overgrowth. This is a positive change and vast improvement from ten years ago when I couldn't find my ancestors resting place due to the overgrowth.

An eerily overgrown site. Years of neglect has taken its toll. Efforts are underway to restore and save what remains of what once was. Truly sad, yet a remarkable sight to be had. If you choose to visit, please be respectful of those who are interred and to those who are putting forth efforts to save it.

A beautiful place to pay respect. It's important to notice the confederate cemetery across the street and think about why these two cemeteries look so different. Check out the volunteering opportunities! These pink flags in the second picture show the revitalization efforts of uncovering and recording graves that have been engulfed by the forest. I hope they keep the trees (forested cemeteries are THE FUTURE) although I am happy to support whatever revitalization efforts suit the local community and family members of the deceased.

A truly special place. An old African-American cemetery, mostly reclaimed by nature. Beautiful and peaceful.

Super cool cemetery and will soon be on my YouTube channel: Ghost Guy Explorations.

This once beautiful cemetery is now overgrown and volunteers are struggling to reclaim and preserve. The resting place of the likes of Maggie L. Walker, John Mitchell, Jr., A.D.Price, and Rev.J.Andrew Bowler, Evergreen now needs our help. Looking at Evergreen reveals much about the role race and money plays and once played in how history gets preserved and transmitted to future generations. If you want to understand the "city of monuments" and places like Hollywood and Monument Avenue, then Evergreen is a must visit on your itinerary.

It's a great place to visit your family I will come back again and again.

There are some amazing people doing all they can to clean up and reclaim this place. Check out the website for workdays and join in the efforts.

It's hard to rank a cemetery. This one's not as cool as Hollywood, as far as cool cemeteries go, but I would still like to draw some attention to it. This is the final resting place of Maggie L Walker, the locally famous mixed woman who was the first woman of African descent to found a bank. She is buried here along with several other prominent black Richmonders from throughout history. The sad thing is that Evergreen Cemetery (and Eastend Cemetery right next to it) is largely in a state of disrepair. The central plots look nice, as does Ms. Walker's grave, but the edges of the graveyard are overgrown, disheveled, tombstones toppled over, just not looking good. It's in pretty bad shape. So if you guys want to help get this historic cemetery to the level of respect it deserves, I would contact the Enrichmond foundation and do some volunteering on the weekends to help clean it up.

This is a hidden gem of Richmond's history. This once affluent African-American cemetery was created in 1891 but has fallen into major disrepair since the mid 70's. After doing a little research on it, I had come to learn that several notable people rest here such as the first woman to create a bank -- Maggie Lena Walker. Another was John Mitchell Jr., who was a businessman, newspaper editor, politician, and civil rights activist. He is worth reading about! This cemetery doesn't see a ton of visitors except for bike riders. There is a huge area where we entered where it was all overgrown with toppled gravestones, and some engulfed by kudzu or other vines and trees. We came through from the back of the cemetery from an area where cars could not enter, but it was off a main road. We walked up the bike path to come upon a clearing of where some stones had been recently been replaced or cleaned by volunteers. They were nicely restored, but the rest of the cemetery needs a lot of work. I really do wish they would clear some more of the sites because, in a way, it was so sad to see them in such disarray. Then again, with the cemetery being like it is now - it is almost not natural to clear it out since a lot of the area has become a habitat for many animals. Evergreen Cemetery's beauty is understated and deserves some sort of TLC whether if it is by the city of Richmond or some really nice volunteers who enjoy the idea of preserving history. This is worth stopping in if you're a history buff or a bike rider.