Blandford Cemetery is located in Petersburg, Virginia, USA. The oldest stone, marking the grave of Richard Yarbrough, reads 1702. Veterans of every American war are buried there, including 30,000 Confederates killed in the Siege of Petersburg (1864-65) during the American Civil War.
In 1866, Blandford Cemetery was the site of Decoration Day ceremony. While visiting the cemetery, the wife of Union General John A. Logan was present and spied Miss Nora Fontaine Davidson, a schoolteacher, and her pupils putting flowers and tiny Confederate flags on the soldiers' graves. Shortly afterward General Logan issued a proclamation calling for the observance of Memorial Day. Locals say that Decoration Day served as the inspiration for the federal Memorial Day.
The cemetery grounds cover 189 acres (0.76 km2), making it the second largest cemetery in Virginia behind Arlington National Cemetery. The original burial grounds, referred to as the "old ground," span 4 acres (16,000 m2) and includes the historic Blandford Church.
Colonel Robert Bolling, Confederate Major General William Mahone, his wife Otelia, and many of their kinfolk, and Confederate Brigadier General David A. Weisiger are interred there, as is actor Joseph Cotten, a native of Petersburg.
The cemetery is adjacent to Blandford Church, which is a Confederate memorial that features a full set of windows designed by Tiffany studios.
Famous quotes containing the word cemetery:
“The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn.”
—John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla)