{"nrhp_refnum":"93000350","name":"Stanton Family Cemetery","other_names":["DHR File No. 14-52"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"VA 677 E side, 0.4 mi. N of jct. with VA 676","address_restricted":false,"city":"Diana Mills","county":"Buckingham County","state":"VA","lat":37.656314758000065,"lon":-78.39483179625992,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-04-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural African-American family cemetery of about 36 graves on a roughly 4,400-square-foot plot east of State Route 677 near Diana Mills, Buckingham County, Virginia, established in 1853 by the free black Stanton family.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery is a rare, well-preserved antebellum burial ground created by free blacks on their own land rather than on a plantation. It reflects the economic and social standing of the Stanton family and the history of rural free blacks in Virginia. Its uninscribed local slate markers and high integrity make it a rare resource at the local and state levels.","narrative":"This small family burial ground in northeastern Buckingham County, Virginia, holds at least 36 graves in six irregular rows, all oriented east-west. Most are marked with rough slabs of local Buckingham slate, which are almost entirely uninscribed; fieldstones mark eight graves and marble military stones mark three World War I veterans. The cemetery began in 1853, when Nancy Stanton, who with her husband Daniel had bought 46.5 acres that year, became the first known person buried there. The Stantons were free black landholders, and later generations worked as farmers, boatmen, carpenters and slate quarrymen. The cemetery was listed because it represents free black history in rural Virginia. Antebellum resources of this kind are uncommon, and few such cemeteries were established by free blacks on their own land. It has kept its original markers, rural setting and layout. A commemorative slate slab to Daniel and Nancy Stanton, placed later at the entrance, is the only major later addition.","period_of_significance":"1853-1941","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Recently cleared of volunteer vegetation; no fence, little disturbance and no apparent vandalism. The nearby family house site survives only as foundations and is excluded from the boundary.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.415309-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/4/6799/41679904/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/93000350.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000350/f513f1e864-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000350/f513f1e864-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Ser Amantio di Nicolao","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buckingham_slate_markers_at_the_Stanton_Family_Cemetery,_Buckingham_County,_Virginia.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ser Amantio di Nicolao</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buckingham_slate_markers_at_the_Stanton_Family_Cemetery,_Buckingham_County,_Virginia.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679904","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanton_Family_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713254"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/buckingham-county/stanton-family-cemetery-93000350/"}