West Point Monument

In 1906, this monument was dedicated to honor African American soldiers who served and died in the Civil War and Spanish-American War. The monument was the result of donations from the local Black community under the leadership of James Fuller, a formerly enslaved man who was a quartermaster in the Civil War. The monument is located within West Point Cemetery, a one-hundred-thirty-three-year-old African American cemetery that spans fourteen acres and is bounded on the eastern side by a ten-foot-high brick wall that separates West Point Cemetery from the white Elmwood Cemetery. A cluster of fifty-five weather-worn headstones predates the 1873 establishment of the West Point Cemetery, which was more than likely used as a potter’s field before its official establishment. A very significant grouping of headstones contains the remains of fifty-eight Black soldiers and sailors who served during the United States Civil War, and a monument commemorating these veterans of war has been erected over their graves. Numerous smaller clusters of headstones represent family plots, and the wide-open spaces in the cemetery are attributed to the deterioration of wooden crosses, which may have marked many of the earlier grave sites.

West Point Cemetery is a city-owned cemetery established in 1873 for the burial of African American residents of Norfolk, and it was not as elaborately landscaped as the neighboring Elmwood Cemetery, which was intended for white descendants only. Additionally, the monuments and headstones are far less grandiose than those in white-only cemeteries. However, the abundance of sycamore, pine, and oak trees, along with an assortment of evergreen bushes and patches of ivy, have helped to enhance the park-like atmosphere of West Point. A limestone graveled road forks at the cemetery's entrance, where a simple wooden sign rises above a circular flower bed that reads “West Point Cemetery.” 

As previously mentioned, a cluster of fifty-five modest and weathered headstones predate the 1873 establishment of West Point and sits on the highest ground in the cemetery. Most of the etchings on these fifty-five headstones have been obliterated by weather and lost to time, but the earliest decipherable burial date has been noted as 1843, and at least three of the burials occurred in 1855. More of the headstones likely date to burials, having taken place in 1855 due to a Yellow Fever epidemic that swept through the Norfolk area and took with it approximately 2,000 lives. The modest headstones and lack of familial grouping among the fifty-five initial headstones suggest the section of land was an early buying ground for paupers: A Potter’s Field. 

Very unique to this African-American cemetery is the section of fifty-eight Black soldiers and sailors whose graves have been organized into three neat rows. Standing guard over these graves is a life-size bronze statue of a Black Union soldier. The statue sits on a monument which has a steel-framed base covered with concrete. The statue and surrounding fifty-eight graves are all surrounded by five large sycamore trees. The placement trees have resulted in later generations to nickname this section of the cemetery “Sycamore Gardens”.  

West Point Cemetery is home to only one mausoleum, which was constructed with bricks and cement in 1876 by a mason who identified himself only as “O’Rourke”. The badly deteriorated structure is nine feet wide, twelve feet long, and has columns at each of the four corners which are ten feet tall. 

West Point Cemetery, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed December 10th 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682209.

West Point Cemetery, City of Norfolk Website. Accessed January 21st 2021. https://www.norfolk.gov/facilities/Facility/Details/52.