Last updated: October 10, 2024
Place
Information Panel: Carter Cemetery
Photo: NPS / Claire Hassler
Quick Facts
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
Over 70 members of the Carter family rest in this cemetery- spanning multiple generations and two centuries of continuous ownership. The graves are arranged in a linear pattern, although none are marked with an inscribed headstone. The cemetery includes the graves of Landon Carter Jr., the builder of Pittsylvania, and his son-in-law Dr. Issac Henry, whose widow Judith would be killed during the First Battle of Manassas.
Following the destruction of Pittsylvania, the Carters built a modest new house near the site of the former mansion. Family members salvaged rock from the original foundation and nearby outbuildings to delineate the cemetery. In the letter to her cousin, Sarah Carter wrote in 1885: "Edwin [Carter] and Arthur Lee [Henry] have been hard at work hauling rock to enclose the dear old grave yard. It is done with a good strong wall around the gate and lock. I am so thankful we have lived to see it done." The last interment in the cemetery occurred in 1903.
Following the destruction of Pittsylvania, the Carters built a modest new house near the site of the former mansion. Family members salvaged rock from the original foundation and nearby outbuildings to delineate the cemetery. In the letter to her cousin, Sarah Carter wrote in 1885: "Edwin [Carter] and Arthur Lee [Henry] have been hard at work hauling rock to enclose the dear old grave yard. It is done with a good strong wall around the gate and lock. I am so thankful we have lived to see it done." The last interment in the cemetery occurred in 1903.