The city of Lynchburg in the U.S. state of Virginia is a city on the James River that is rich with railroad history, and the railroad still passes through the downtown area. A few miles from downtown is the Old City Cemetery where some of the city’s deceased are buried. Erected in 1806, it is the oldest still in use cemetery in Virginia.
Some of you are saying, “Every cemetery has gravesites where the dead are buried. This place is no different than every other cemetery. Let me say that I am not ‘dying’ to visit this place.”
When it comes to the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia, there is something more. It has graves like any other cemetery. It has memorials like any other cemetery. It has a chapel like many cemeteries. It has an old train station like… wait? An old train station?
One of the sites in the Old City Cemetery is the old train station from Stapleton, Virginia. Why is the train station here in a cemetery? That is a good question… that has an answer.
The old train station was built by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1898 that was relocated to the cemetery and made into a small museum. It is the only remaining station of it size and style. It also commemorates the city’s railroad heritage and the former railroad workers that are buried in the cemetery.
The Old City Cemetery is located at the intersection of Fourth Street and Taylor Street one block from Virginia Route 163. It is open from dawn to dusk every day of the year, and there is no admission fee. You can get more information at https://www.gravegarden.org/.
So, you have cemeteries, and you have the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia that pays heritage to the railroad. It is truly unlike any other cemetery experience.
John Cowgill: Stories of the Railroad 
Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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