{"nrhp_refnum":"95000921","name":"Fort Harrison National Cemetery","other_names":["VDHR No. 43-134"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"8620 Varina Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richmond","county":"Henrico County","state":"VA","lat":37.428517956000064,"lon":-77.36647833699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-08-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1.5-acre national cemetery at 8620 Varina Road in eastern Henrico County, Virginia, about eight miles southeast of Richmond. It was established in May 1866 and includes a 1871 superintendent's lodge, a service building, an oil house, an enclosing brick wall and gates.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under Criterion A for its association with the Civil War, specifically the September 1864 Union attack on Fort Harrison, and many burials are of soldiers who fell there, including black Union troops. Under Criterion C, the lodge is a distinctive prototypical design by Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs.","narrative":"Fort Harrison National Cemetery occupies 1.5 acres on Varina Road in eastern Henrico County, eight miles southeast of Richmond. Established in May 1866, it holds 1,522 interments, including 583 unknown Civil War soldiers and a Medal of Honor recipient, Private George A. Buchanan. Many of those buried are black Union soldiers who fell in the September 1864 assault on nearby Fort Harrison, and remains were gathered from battlefields and some forty locations within a five-mile area. A brick wall encloses the grounds, and a cast iron seacoast artillery tube serves as a monument. The most architecturally notable building is the 1871 superintendent's lodge, an L-shaped rubble-stone Second Empire structure with a slate mansard roof, designed by Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs. It was recognized for its Civil War associations and as a distinctive prototype by a master of Quartermaster Corps civil works. Burials ceased in 1967, apart from limited exceptions.","period_of_significance":"1866-1941","architect_builder":"Meigs, Montgomery C.","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Second Empire","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Officially closed to new burials on March 7, 1967, though a small number of interments in occupied and reserved graves and of cremated remains still occur yearly.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.417561-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_AL/95000921.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000921/e53cbcf4c7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000921/e53cbcf4c7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jjmusgrove","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ft_Harrison_Natl_Cemetery.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jjmusgrove</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ft_Harrison_Natl_Cemetery.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77835173","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Harrison_National_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5471302"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/henrico-county/fort-harrison-national-cemetery-95000921/"}