SUFFOLK, Va. — Historic Oak Lawn Cemetery in Suffolk is home to more than 400 graves. The site is clean now, but for years it was left uncared for.
In May, I reported on the community effort to preserve the cemetery. Now, I'm following up and learning more about state funding that could help and the hurdles getting in the way.
Nadia Orton, whose uncle is buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery, described the conditions that once existed there.
"You have to wear boots and I have a snake stick in my car in case I did go back there," Orton said.
Those conditions helped push earlier efforts to secure state support for cemetery preservation.
The effort to preserve Oak Lawn isn't new. Years ago, local leaders helped secure state support for headstone and cemetery preservation. After being invited to a cemetery cleanup in Richmond, Delegate Cliff Hayes of Chesapeake and Portsmouth helped push for funding to preserve African American cemeteries. At the time, state money was included in the budget for headstones only.
"In order to fund those cemeteries you had to document where African American cemeteries were and if you could document it then there was funding for those particular gravesites," Hayes said.
That money was removed in the previous administration. In 2023, the General Assembly restored and expanded state support for historic African American cemeteries and graves, reopening resources for sites like Oak Lawn.
According to Delegate Nadarius Clark, funding for historic cemetery preservation is already included in the proposed budget and is not expected to be impacted by current budget negotiations.
"The dilemma that we're facing is who can receive the funds because it must go to a non-profit that's doing the work in the community," Clark said.
In the budget, Oak Lawn Cemetery receives $2,340 annually to help preserve 468 historic graves. Local leaders say the challenge is finding a nonprofit or other qualified organization to carry the work forward.
"I would say almost 10 thousand dollars would've been coming directly to Oak Lawn because it's a little north of 23 hundred dollars a year so in about a 3-4 year time, we're looking at probably just a little south of 10,000 dollars," Clark said.
Clark, who represents portions of Suffolk, says volunteers are doing important work, but a permanent solution is needed.
"If you're listening if you're out there we need your help we need your support we need you to join the volunteers that's coming out here weekly but consider starting that non-profit to be that long term solution in the community," Clark said.
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