Online survey set up for your ideas and suggestions!
August 13, 2020 Update:
The finalists for a new name for the former SJ Memorial Cemetery are…
- Unity Cemetery
- Oak Grove Cemetery
- Lexington Memorial Cemetery
- Main Street Cemetery
Lexington City Council will select from one of these four at the next City Council Meeting on August 20, 2020. If you have a particular favorite from this shortlist, please reach out to any or all of your city council members to help them make this final selection.
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Original Post:
On Thursday, July 2nd, after an impassioned five-hour city council meeting, the Zoom video recording of which can be found here, the six members of Lexington City Council voted unanimously to rename the cemetery on south Main St. This cemetery dates back to the 1790’s and was originally owned by the Lexington Presbyterian congregation. In 1949, the church conveyed the cemetery to the Town (now city) of Lexington and at that time it was renamed the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery. (The confederate general’s final resting place and grave marker is and will remain in the cemetery.)
While the street entrance signs indicating its old name have already been taken down, the city will need to change the name officially by ordinance – and city council hopes to accomplish this in September of 2020. However, in order to do that, the city must decide upon a new name.
City Council is asking local citizens for their assistance in that project. To that end, Lexington has set up an online survey form where interested individuals can submit their ideas for a new name – along with their rationale for their proposed new name. City Council will be reviewing these entries and other input from the community at an upcoming work session.
Rockbridge NAACP encourages its members (and indeed any interested person) to submit their suggestions and ideas via this online survey.