August 21, 2010

The Fayetteville Confederate Cemetery in Washington County, established in 1873, is the burial site of more than 500 Confederate war dead. In 1873, the newly formed Southern Memorial Association, possibly the oldest such organization in continuous operation in the United States, purchased approximately three acres of land on East Mountain. Remains of Confederate soldiers were reburied on the site, and on June 10, 1897, the large monument shown in this 1942 photo was dedicated in the presence of a crowd estimated at 20,000. The cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.