{"nrhp_refnum":"06000350","name":"Shannon Cemetery","other_names":["VDHR file no.035-5028"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Jct. of VA 42 and 100","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pearisburg","county":"Giles County","state":"VA","lat":37.21799764800005,"lon":-80.74134923699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-05-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Exploration/Settlement","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic cemetery with two separate sections, one for white burials and one for Black burials, on adjacent ridges above the Poplar Hill community and Big Walker Creek near Pearisburg in Giles County, Virginia. The white section dates to 1781 and the Black section to the nineteenth century.","why_significant":"The cemetery is significant under Criteria A and C for its link to ethnic history and settlement in Giles County and for the variety and quality of its memorial art. The Black section was a burial ground for the Shannon family's enslaved people and is one of few resources tied to the county's rural African American community. The grave markers range from fieldstones and folk-carved stones to professionally carved marble and granite monuments.","narrative":"Two burial grounds on neighboring ridges above Big Walker Creek in Giles County make up this cemetery near Pearisburg. The white section, begun in 1781 with the burial of two-year-old Ann Shannon, was established by settler Thomas Reid Shannon and is believed to be the oldest maintained cemetery in the county. Its markers include plain fieldstones, folk-carved stones with star designs, professionally carved marble monuments, and twentieth-century granite and concrete markers. The Black section, founded in the nineteenth century, was a burial ground for people enslaved by the Shannon family and probably by neighboring slaveholders. Roughly forty-five graves are visible, mostly marked by uninscribed fieldstones or depressions, and burials continued into the early 1960s. The site is one of the few community resources tied to the county's historic rural African American population. Its monuments show local craft traditions alongside wider memorial fashions, and it was recognized for its association with settlement and ethnic history and for its memorial art.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1800-1955","architect_builder":"Spyker, B. F. (tombstone carver)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The white section remains in use, with burials as recent as 2001. The Black section is overgrown and no longer in use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.354567-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/97/6808/41680897/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/06000350.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000350/5262cc7033-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000350/5262cc7033-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shannon_Cemetery_near_Staffordsville.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shannon_Cemetery_near_Staffordsville.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680897","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713197"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/giles-county/shannon-cemetery-06000350/"}