A Guide to the Pleasant Shade Cemetery (Hampton, Va.) records, compiled 2012-2018, #54206

Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/

Processed by: Trenton Hizer

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Pleasant Shade Cemetery (Hampton, Va.) records, comp. 2012-2018. Accession 54206. Cemetery records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Artistine Mears-Lang, Hampton, Virginia, and Mary Kayaselcuk and Selma Stewart, Newport News, Virginia.

Pleasant Shade Cemetery, comprising over 20 acres, is the oldest and largest public African American cemetery located on the lower Virginia Peninsula. It is a combination of three earlier burial grounds, Mount Zion (1888), Pleasant Shade (1908) and Holly Grove (1918), and contains an estimated 15,000 burials, of which only a portion have been identified. After its owners abandoned the cemetery, Darnell Lang (1954-2024) and Artistine Mears-Lang founded the East End Neighborhood Association to organize volunteer efforts to save and maintain the cemetery. The cemetery has been divided into 14 sections to make identification of burial sites easier. The cemetery is the resting place for many prominent African American leaders of Hampton and Newport News, Virginia, including James A. Fields (1844-1903), member of the Virginia House of Delegates; attorney and social justice pioneer Joseph Thomas Newsome (1869-1942); evangelist Lightfoot Soloman Michaux (1885-1968); and Jessie Menfield Rattley (1929-2001), the first woman and African American to serve on the Newport News City Council and as mayor of Newport News.

Scope and Content

Cemetery records for Pleasant Shade Cemetery, the oldest African American public cemetery on the Virginia Peninsula. Information compiled 2012-2018 by John Mitchell, Mary Kayaselcuk, and Selma Stewart. Provides name and burial information for identified burials in the 14 sections of the cemetery listed by section and by alphabetical order. Includes information on veterans, notable persons, and persons born in the 1800s.

Contents List

Sections .

Boxes 1-2

Extent: 2 boxes.

Box 1 Folder 1
Section 1-Galilee--Maps, photographs
Box 1 Folder 2
Section 1--Galilee--Burial by row and plot
Box 1 Folder 3
Section 1-Galilee--Early births, 1800s, veterans
Box 1 Folder 4
Section 2-Shiloh
Box 1 Folder 5
Section 3-Ephesus--Map, veterans, burials-verify, 1800s, early briths, notables, blank pages
Box 1 Folder 6
Section 3-Ephesus--Burial by row and plot
Box 1 Folder 7
Section 4-Philippi--Veterans, 1800s, clergy, notables
Box 1 Folder 8
Section 4-Philippi--Burial by row and plot
Box 1 Folder 9
Section 5-Antioch
Box 1 Folder 10
Section 6-Beulah
Box 1 Folder 11
Section 7-Mt. Carmel
Box 1 Folder 12
Section 8-Corinth
Box 1 Folder 13
Section 9-Jericho--Maps, photographs, old sheets, statistics, correspondence, copies, blanks, additions
Box 1 Folder 14
Section 9-Jericho--Burial by row and plot, revisions and additions
Box 1 Folder 15
Section 9-Jericho--Early births, blank sheets, additions, maps
Box 1 Folder 16
Section 10-Cyprus
Box 2 Folder 1
Section 11-Canaan
Box 2 Folder 2
Section 12-Gilead
Box 2 Folder 3
Section 13-Gethsemane--Maps, markers, burial by row and plot (rows 1-10)
Box 2 Folder 4
Section 13-Gethsemane--Burial by row and plot (rows 11-20)
Box 2 Folder 5
Section 13-Gethsemane--Burial by row and plot (rows 21-28)
Box 2 Folder 6
Section 13-Gethsemane--Veterans, early births, miscellaneous, maps, early births, 1800s, masons, notables, row 17 (draft)
Box 2 Folder 7
Section 14-Samaria

1800s .

Box 2

Extent: 1 box.

Box 2 Folder 9
1800s--Section 1-Galilee
Box 2 Folder 10
1800s--Section 2-Shiloh
Box 2 Folder 11
1800s--Section 12-Gilead
Box 2 Folder 12
1800s--Section 13-Gethsemane
Box 2 Folder 13
1800s--Early birth sheets-blank and Galilee, 1800 sheets-blank
Box 2 Folder 14
1800s--Earliest births

Marker surveys .

Box 3

Extent: 1 box.

Box 3 Folder 2
Section 1-Galilee--Rows 1-3
Box 3 Folder 3
Section 1-Galilee--Rows 4-6
Box 3 Folder 4
Section 1-Galilee--Rows 7-9
Box 3 Folder 5
Section 1-Galilee--Rows 10-12
Box 3 Folder 6
Section 1-Galilee--Rows 13-16
Box 3 Folder 7
Section 1-Galilee--Rows 17-19
Box 3 Folder 8
Section 1-Galilee--Burial information form/request
Box 3 Folder 9
Section 1-Galilee--Revisits, maps, photographs
Box 3 Folder 10
Section 1-Galilee--General papers
Box 3 Folder 11
Section 2-Shiloh--Notes, rows 1-4
Box 3 Folder 12
Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 5-7
Box 3 Folder 13
Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 8-11
Box 3 Folder 14
Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 12-16
Box 3 Folder 15
Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 17-19
Box 3 Folder 16
Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 20-22, extra entries, notes

Alphabetical .

Boxes 3-4

Extent: 2 boxes.

Box 3 Folder 17
Photographs, article, map, statistics
Box 3 Folder 18
A
Box 3 Folder 19
B
Box 3 Folder 20
C
Box 4 Folder 1
D
Box 4 Folder 2
E
Box 4 Folder 3
F
Box 4 Folder 4
G
Box 4 Folder 5
Miscellaneous papers from notebook A-G
Box 4 Folder 6
Maps from notebook A-G
Box 4 Folder 7
H
Box 4 Folder 8
I
Box 4 Folder 9
J
Box 4 Folder 10
K
Box 4 Folder 11
L
Box 4 Folder 12
M
Box 4 Folder 13
N
Box 4 Folder 14
O
Box 4 Folder 15
Photographs, maps, papers from notebook P-Z
Box 4 Folder 16
P
Box 4 Folder 17
Q
Box 4 Folder 18
R
Box 4 Folder 19
S
Box 4 Folder 20
T
Box 4 Folder 21
U
Box 4 Folder 22
V
Box 4 Folder 23
W
Box 4 Folder 24
X
Box 4 Folder 25
Y
Box 4 Folder 26
Z

General and miscellaneous .

Box 4

Extent: 1 box.

Box 4 Folder 30
Alphabetical listing of burials (draft)
Box 4 Folder 31
Research on burials, statistics
Box 4 Folder 32
Newport News death register--African American burials
Box 4 Folder 33
Photographs on CDs
Folder 1
Aerial photograph