{"nrhp_refnum":"96000034","name":"Staunton National Cemetery","other_names":["VDHR File No. 132-19"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"901 Richmond Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Staunton (Independent City)","county":"Staunton","state":"VA","lat":38.14050122700007,"lon":-79.04963807499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-02-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1.15-acre Civil War-era national cemetery at 901 Richmond Avenue in Staunton, Virginia, established in 1866, with an enclosing limestone wall, a Second Empire lodge built circa 1871, and several support structures.","why_significant":"The cemetery is tied to the Civil War, including Jackson's Valley Campaign and the Battle of Piedmont, and holds soldiers moved from nearby battlefields. Its lodge reflects a prototypical design by Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, regarded as a master architect of Quartermaster Corps civil works.","narrative":"Staunton National Cemetery occupies about 1.15 acres on Richmond Avenue, roughly a mile and a half east of the Augusta County Courthouse. Established in 1866, it was first filled with soldiers' remains moved from the Staunton city cemetery and from Cross Keys, Port Republic, Waynesboro and other nearby places. Those burials link it to Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign and the 1864 Battle of Piedmont. Among the interred is Nicolae Dunca, a Romanian-born Union captain killed at Cross Keys. A limestone wall and wrought-iron gates enclose the grounds, which also hold a flagpole and an artillery-tube monument. The lodge, built around 1871 from a design by Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, is a Second Empire building with a mansard roof. It was listed for its Civil War associations and for the lodge's distinctive Meigs design. The cemetery closed in 1983.","period_of_significance":"1868-1940","architect_builder":"Meigs, Montgomery C.","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Second Empire","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The cemetery was officially closed to new interments in 1983; as of August 31, 1995, only reserved gravesites and a few cremation sites remained available.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.907236-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_AL/96000034.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000034/0446ff2541-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000034/0446ff2541-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Strawser","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Staunton_VA_National_Cemetery_Sept_2013.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Strawser</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:Staunton_VA_National_Cemetery_Sept_2013.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77835562","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staunton_National_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7604738"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/staunton/staunton-national-cemetery-96000034/"}