At 1701 Chesapeake Street you enter Riverview Cemetery, a private cemetery in the Woolen Mills section of Charlottesville. Founded in 1892 as Charlottesville's two public cemeteries—Maplewood and Oakwood—were filling up, Riverview spreads across about 50 acres overlooking a bend in the Rivanna River. You are on ground that already holds approximately 12,000 graves, with room for about 7,000 more.
As you stroll the lanes in your mind, you pass names that tell stories of Virginia and the nation. John Wood Fishburne (1868–1937) served as a U.S. Congressman. Nicholas Lewis (1734–1808) was an officer in the American Revolution and a friend of Thomas Jefferson.
Lucian Louis Watts (1888–1974) championed blind Virginians and served in the Virginia House of Delegates. Thomas L. Rosser (1836–1910) was a General for the Confederate States of America and later served as an officer in the Spanish–American War. Virginia State Senator Emily Couric (1947–2001) is also interred here.
Stand here for a moment and feel the layers of history harbored in these 50 acres. Notice the slope as it follows the bend in the Rivanna River.