{"nrhp_refnum":"07000393","name":"West Point Cemetery","other_names":["DHR File# 122-5181","Potter's Field","Calvary Cemetery"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"238 E. Princess Anne Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Norfolk (Independent City)","county":"Norfolk","state":"VA","lat":36.86155408900004,"lon":-76.2849211360858,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-05-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"West Point Cemetery is a 14-acre city-owned African American cemetery at 238 East Princess Anne Road in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, formally established in 1873 and containing five contributing resources and one noncontributing resource.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery shows Black Norfolk residents using newly acquired political power during Reconstruction to secure a public burial ground. It holds the graves of 58 Black Civil War soldiers and sailors, marked by a monument completed in 1920 after decades of fundraising. The form calls the monument the only known memorial in the South to Black veterans of the Civil and Spanish-American wars.","narrative":"West Point Cemetery occupies about fourteen acres in downtown Norfolk, Virginia. A ten-foot brick wall separates it from the white Elmwood Cemetery. The city designated the land as a burial ground for African Americans in 1873 after the Black community pressed for a public cemetery, and it was long called Potter's Field. In 1885 councilman and Union veteran James E. Fuller proposed the name West Point and secured a section for Black Union veterans. That section holds 58 Civil War soldiers and sailors in three rows. A bronze statue of a Union soldier, modeled on Sergeant William H. Carney of the 54th Massachusetts, stands over them. Fundraising by Fuller and many community groups took decades, and the monument was finished in 1920. A plaque honors Spanish-American War soldiers. The grounds also include a cluster of 55 early headstones, family plots with marble and brick borders, and an 1876 brick mausoleum. The form describes it as the only known memorial in the South to Black veterans of both wars.","period_of_significance":"1843-1920","architect_builder":"O'Rourke (mausoleum mason)","architectural_style":"Other: Cemetery","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still used as a cemetery; the O'Rourke mausoleum is badly deteriorated and the city has posted a sign warning trespassers not to enter.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.748626-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/9/6822/41682209/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/07000393.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000393/056e18e1fc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000393/056e18e1fc-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCT_graves_at_West_Point_Cemetery.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCT_graves_at_West_Point_Cemetery.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682209","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Point_Cemetery_(Norfolk,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903096"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/norfolk/west-point-cemetery-07000393/"}