BY SARAH HONOSKY
The (Lynchburg) News & Advance
BROOKNEAL â In a clearing about a half mile from the main buildings of the Patrick Henry National Memorial on Red Hill, on the northwest edge of the old tobacco plantation, was a sea of white markers â more than 140 crosses marking the gravesites of the Quarter Place enslaved and African American cemetery.Â
Until recently, the graves were only recognizable by depressions in the earth, by scattered field-stones and the single engraved tombstone, which carves like a question mark from the soft soil. It was a history almost lost entirely.Â
But Saturday morning, the cemetery was washed with chatter and song, and crowds of people spilled into the clearing to attend a dedication and remembrance ceremony at the cemetery, a celebration of the lives of the enslaved people who once lived on the site.