Greenlawn Memorial Park (Newport News, Virginia)
Greenlawn Memorial Park, also known as Greenlawn Cemetery, is located at 2700 Parish Avenue, Newport News, Virginia. Greenlawn Memorial Park is a 50-acre (200,000 m2) cemetery located where two natural streams, Mill Dam Creek and Salters Creek, come together. The cemetery has been in continuous operation, serving the Newport News and Hampton, Virginia, since 1888. There are approximately 20,000 burials in the cemetery. Greenlawn Memorial Park is on the National Register of Historical Places.[3]
Greenlawn Cemetery | |
 Camp Butler POW monument at Greenlawn Cemetery | |
   | |
| Location | 2700 Parish Ave., Newport News, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36°59′50″N 76°24′15″W |
| Area | 50 acres (20 ha) |
| Built | 1900 |
| Built by | Lawson and Newton; Couper, O.D., Ennis |
| NRHP reference No. | 99000139[1] |
| VLR No. | 121-0065 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | February 5, 1999 |
| Designated VLR | September 14, 1998[2] |
Greenlawn Cemetery was developed by the Newport News Cemetery Company beginning February 14, 1888. The incorporators were T. H. Gordon, Louis Bremond, I. E. White, Theodore Livezey, E. Clayton, E. B. Smith, T. E. Monis and M. B. Crowell. By the terms of the charter, they were authorized to associate others with them. Walter A. Post, George Benjamin West, Carter M. Braxton, W. B. Livezey, C. B. Nelms and W. J. Nelms were added as associates.
At the center of the cemetery is a 25-foot (7.6 m) obelisk erected in 1900 marking the mass grave of 163 Confederate Prisoners of War. The 163 Confederate soldiers were re-interred there in 1900. These were POWs who died in the nearby Newport News POW camp between April 27, 1865 and July 5, 1865. At the foot of this monument is a granite ledger with the names, rank, state and unit of each soldier. Soldiers from 13 southern states are represented.
The cemetery office building is a 1936 Sears Catalog Home.
Notable burials
- Schuyler Otis Bland (1872–1950): U. S. Congressman from Virginia serving from July 2, 1918 to February 16, 1950.
- Perkins, Robert Walker (1859–1919): member of Virginia House of Delegates, 1894 to 1896.
- Nathaniel Jarrett Webb (1891–1943): member of Virginia House of Delegates, 1936 to 1939.
- One British Commonwealth war grave, of an Army Veterinary Corps Surgeon of World War I.[4]
References
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
- Todd Sexton (February 1998). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Greenlawn Cemetery" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying two photos
- CWGC casualty record.
