Springwood Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke City                        Temporal Period:                  Indeterminate

Realty Map:          2050701 & 2050702               Cultural Affiliation:              African-American & Euro-American

USGS Map:           Roanoke                                                Landform:                              Ridge top

Grid Locus:            F-10                                        Elevation:                              1020 feet

UTM Easting:       593600                                    Aspect:                                  Flat

UTM Northing:    4127300

 

Site Dimensions:  10 acres

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a large community cemetery that was once under corporate operation.  It is now abandoned, not maintained, and covered with a thick growth of scrub brush and briars.  The cemetery was not surveyed during this study, but it was cleaned and marker inscriptions were transcribed in the recent past through a joint effort of the local chapter of the Sons of the Confederacy and members of the local black community. Site size was derived from local realty maps.

 

Survey Date:         Not surveyed

 

Field Notes:           ___Yes  ___No

Photographs:        ___Yes  ___No

 

References:           None

 

Additional Comments:  The cemetery is not marked on the USGS Roanoke map sheet, but each of the two parcels that comprise the cemetery are assigned the Roanoke City Land Use Code designation for a private cemetery.  The “Roanoke Scrapbooks” in the Virginia Room of the Roanoke City Public Library contain one newspaper clipping relating to the Springwood Cemetery.  An article from the September 16, 1937 edition of the Roanoke Times entitled “Property Purchased for Burial Ground for Colored Persons” announced plans of the Springwood Investment Corporation to purchase 20 acres of land just outside the city limits for a cemetery.  The article mentioned that the land under consideration was adjacent to Springwood Municipal Park, an existing black cemetery.  Apparently, these plans for expansion did not materialize since the cemetery is only 10 acres in size.  Archival research should provide useful social and temporal information regarding this cemetery.

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