This includes all families and communiti4es of African descent of former Nansemond County and the Town of Suffolk. In 1884, seven African-American veterans and businessmen of Suffolk, Virginia, purchased a plot of land for a cemetery for the local African-American community. The Sacred Grounds Project, Inc., an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, assists community initiatives to doc
ument, protect, and preserve historic African American burial grounds and cemeteries and their rich history through conservation, advocacy, and educational initiatives. Oak Lawn Cemetery, located in Suffolk, Virginia, is one of the historic cemeteries we support through such initiatives. Through very hard work, Secretary and Historian of the Historic Oak Lawn Cemetery Foundation, Nadia K. Orton, gained state funding and a historical marker for this historic site between 2018 and 2019. All other supporters of Oak Lawn Cemetery have always been open to join, post, or write about their personal works for Oak Lawn, on all public and private platforms, administered by Nadia K. Orton, and the Sacred Grounds Project, Inc.We believe preservation efforts for Oak Lawn Cemetery should include the following: (1) general and continuous maintenance (inclusive of all issues that may lead to further deterioration of the graves of Oak Lawn, and may constitute dangerous conditions for descendants and visitors), removal of dead and fallen trees, poisonous plants, open holes and depressions; (2) regular outreach to descendant communities and the general public, through publicly advertised meetings and other communications, as originally developed for the cemetery in 2011, and (3) open and respectful support for all cemetery volunteers, and their cumulative work on Oak Lawn Cemetery. Our record on these subjects is clear and thoroughly documented, and we remain committed to these goals.Oak Lawn Cemetery (est. 1885) is located within Virginia's Fourth Congressional District
