History & Location

In 1885, Joshua and Nancy Hill gave part of their land for the black cemetery (Augusta County Deed Book 102, p. 526). Along with several others, Joshua Hill, a laborer, became a trustee of the cemetery. The Hills' dedication to his community is memorialized with a monument in the cemetery dedicated by the Officials of the Pleasant View M.E. Church. The cemetery is located in the Port Republic Road Historic District. Uphill from the bank of the South River and nestled between Port Republic Road and Shiloh Avenue is the historic 136-year-old Fairview Cemetery. From the peak of the cemetery, one can look east past the former Basic City and its once late-Victorian resort to see the Blue Ridge Mountains. To the west, stands Rosenwald School (today it serves as the Rosenwald Community Center and houses the Waynesboro African American Heritage Museum). The original Rosenwald school house was built in 1924 with funds raised by the community and by Julius Rosenwald. The school operated in segregated Waynesboro until Waynesboro schools desegregated in 1965.