East End Cemetery (est. 1897) is a historic African American burial ground in Henrico County and the city of Richmond, Virginia. From 2013 to 2020, volunteers led by the Friends of East End worked to reclaim the 16-acre cemetery from nature and neglect.
Years in the making, this map pinpoints the locations of grave markers at East End using GIS technology and drone imagery. As of July 2021, more than 3,300 markers had been mapped, with points indicating their precise positions in the cemetery. Points will continue to be added as markers are found.
About the Map
This map was created by the East End Cemetery Collaboratory, a partnership of the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Friends of East End Cemetery. The Collaboratory brings together university faculty and community members to document and curate African American history and culture in Richmond through cemetery restoration and research.
The digital infrastructure for the map was built by Robert K. Nelson and Justin Madron/UR Digital Scholarship Lab, Stephanie Spera/UR Department of Geography and the Environment, and Beth Zizzamia and Taylor Holden/UR Spatial Analysis Lab. The hillshade layer (not operable on mobile devices) was created by UR student Matt Franklin and Steph Spera using a digital surface model, which highlights depressions identified from small changes in elevation across the cemetery.
Data was collected by John Shuck, Erin Hollaway Palmer, and Melissa Pocock/Friends of East End Cemetery, Kristine Grayson and Elizabeth Baughan/University of Richmond, and hundreds of students and volunteers across departments and institutions.
Support for the Collaboratory is provided by UR’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, VCU’s Center for Community Engagement and Impact, the UR School of Arts & Sciences Contested Spaces theme year and the UR Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Initiative.