DOI
10. 1007/ s41636- 026- 00644-0.
Author ORCID Identifier
Elizabeth Baughan: 0000-0002-8344-8366
Abstract
More than 100 graves at East End and Evergreen cemeteries, adjacent historical Black burial grounds in Richmond, Virginia, are marked by unusually thin headstones with physical features indicating prior use as the top surfaces of wooden furnishings. Using biographical sources for the deceased (with known death years ranging from 1899 to 1958) and the family members who likely provided the headstones, as well as records of a local stone-carving company, selected examples from cemeteries elsewhere in the American Southeast, and archaeological theories of reuse, this study explores possible economic, social, and symbolic motivations for repurposed furniture-top grave markers. While resourcefulness and thrift probably played some role, much of the evidence collected here challenges the assumption that furniture-top gravestones were merely quick or affordable solutions. Provided by women more often than by men, these markers carried a symbolic connection to household and family that made them particularly apt for reuse at African American cemeteries, where gravesites often held offerings of personal property and household objects.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-12-2026
Publisher Statement
© The Author(s) 2026
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Recommended Citation
Baughan, E.P. Furnishing Memorial: Gravestones Made from Repurposed Furniture Tops at African American Cemeteries. Hist Arch (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-026-00644-0
