Board of Trustees works to preserve Luray’s oldest cemetery
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Sept. 26 — It sits on 2.5 acres of “green space” on the eastern hill just a few blocks from the center of downtown, but it was once considered on Luray’s “outskirts.” Back in the day when many local residents simply buried their loved ones in the backyard or on family plots scattered across the county, former mayor and Civil War veteran Daniel Fagan formalized a Victorian garden cemetery 148 years ago on Green Hill.
At the time, the area’s population was growing rapidly due to the railroad boom during Reconstruction. Church graveyards were full and health concerns grew over outbreaks of diphtheria and typhoid. Fagan saw both a need and an opportunity. So, he commissioned the design in 1876, and the following year he built Green Hill Cemetery.
It became a place where it was customary to hold Sunday picnics as families visited with the deceased. Among the many plots there lay the remains of early settlers to the area, soldiers dating back to the Revolutionary War, former editors of the local newspaper, members of the Ruffner family and other early founders of the Town of Luray, and even the final resting place of the man who created it.
“In civil life, Mr. Fagan was an exemplary citizen, ready and willing to do his whole duty. Mr. Fagan’s occupation was that of a marble cutter and he was ‘a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.’ To him we are indebted for our beautiful Green Hill Cemetery, and almost every memorial stone in it testifies to his taste and skill,” reads an article in the Page News following Fagan’s death on Feb. 5, 1892. “His funeral was conducted by Elder Dalton of Stanley, and his body laid to rest in the Cemetery on the hill which his labor and skill had done so much to adorn and beautify.”
A native of Winchester and 1st Lieutenant of the “Morgan Continentals,” an old military organization of that city, Fagan had, in that capacity, taken part in the John Brown Raid at Harper’s Ferry and Charles Town, according to the newspaper’s memorial piece.
“He came among us at a time when men of sterling worth, ripe judgment, and knowledge of military affairs were sorely needed everywhere in Virginia. He took an active part in getting up the first company of volunteers raised in Page County, for the war, which became Company K, 10th Va. Infantry, whose renown is a part and a bright part, too, of the history and heritage of Virginia,” the article from 1892 continues. “Of this Company he was chosen 1st Lieutenant, entered the Confederate service with it, and took part in the first Battle of Manassas, where he was hit by a ‘minnie ball,’ but not seriously hurt.”
Despite surviving the Battle of Bull Run and the bloody four-year war, Fagan would see many Civil War soldiers and veterans buried at what would become Green Hill Cemetery. Today, flags are placed at the more than 130 veteran graves there each Memorial Day, honoring the fallen from the Revolution through the Vietnam War.
A few years after Fagan passed away, his wife could no longer care for the property herself, so the court stepped in and named a half dozen trustees who were tasked with taking care of the town’s beloved cemetery. For the past century and a half, the process has much remained the same. Today, those trustees do their volunteer work under the umbrella of “Friends of Green Hill Cemetery.”
“It’s a huge job,” said Rose Ann Smythe, a current trustee of the historic site.
Smythe addressed supporters at a special ceremony held on Friday to unveil the cemetery’s new plaque marking its recognition and listing by the National Historic Registry and the Virginia Landmarks Registry — a process that took nearly four years. Within its dolomite stone walls, the historic cemetery contains 1,555 marked graves and 800 known unmarked graves.
“We’re here to celebrate a very special part of our county’s history,” said Smythe. “That’s why we were listed on the National Historic Registry.”
The Sept. 26 event also featured a new information kiosk that houses the alphabetized list of tombstones identified in the cemetery along with their plot location. The design and the construction of the kiosk was completed thanks to donations from the community, and a hard-scape floor was added. Another addition was a marker on the kiosk reading, “September 26, 2025, Kiosk dedicated to Francis Amiss Menefee.”
Menefee, who passed away on Sept. 4, 2023, was represented by her two daughters at Friday’s event, on what would have been their mother’s 85th birthday. The former member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Confederacy, also served as a trustee for the Green Hill Cemetery and often recruited others to join the cause, sometimes abruptly.
“Frances called me about eight years ago and said since you’re a Ruffner, you ought to be involved, and we all voted you in and today is the day we meet,” said Sam McNeely, another current trustee of the cemetery. “It’s been a labor of love to bring it to its current condition.”
It takes about $13,000 annually for maintenance of the site, mostly for mowing. Clean up days are held quarterly for volunteers. Gravestone conservation is achieved through special techniques of cleaning and repair to bring tombstones back to life, some dating as far back as 1842. There was some talk of removing foot stones at one point to make mowing easier, but many felt it would take away from the historic preservation of the site.
Volunteer Stacy Montgomery has been working to identify additional burials in Green Hill that are not marked by tombstones through old newspaper obituaries. A Green Hill Plot Map at the kiosk helps visitors locate specific plots of ancestors that are documented in a logbook maintained by The Friends of Green Hill Cemetery.
The 2.5 acres is not laid out like modern cemeteries. Its Victorian garden style allows for trees still standing among the stones. Two heritage hemlocks have been saved from disease on the backside, along with a magnolia, maple and eight eastern red cedars. Once overgrown in certain sections over the years, the site has been cleaned up in multiple ways. It even survived vandalism, the worst of which came in the summer of 1962 when 95 tombstones were turned over and 24 were broken.
Today, Green Hill Cemetery stands as yet another attraction in the Page Valley, whether it be for descendants of past residents visiting their ancestor’s final resting place, or history buffs exploring a listing on the National Historic Registry or the Virginia Landmarks Registry. Yet, for local residents, it serves as a piece of local history and heritage. Something they not only cherish, but pledge to preserve.
Just ask Sam McNeely.
“It’s been a labor of love.”
For more information about Friends of Green Hill Cemetery,
as well as how to DONATE or VOLUNTEER,
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Very nice article which includes an interesting history of the cemetary. My Mom was one of the “volunteers” that Francie Menefee recruited to help clean up the site and the gravestones.