Virginia officials will unveil a state historical marker next week honoring Richmond’s first municipal African cemetery, a site that dates back to 1799.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved the marker for the burial ground, historically known as the “Burial Ground for Negroes.” The dedication ceremony is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at 1541 E. Broad St.

The cemetery, located in what is now the Shockoe Bottom neighborhood, served as a burial site for both enslaved and free Africans and African Americans. It fell into disuse after 1816 when the city opened a new cemetery following petitions from free Black residents who objected to the original site’s location near a gallows and its frequent flooding.

By the 1950s, much of the original cemetery was covered by Interstate 95 and parking lots. Community activists began a campaign in the early 2000s to reclaim and memorialize the site, now called the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground.

Speakers at the dedication will include Ana Edwards, a public historian and Virginia Commonwealth University assistant professor and Pamela Bingham, a descendant of Gabriel, an enslaved blacksmith who led a thwarted rebellion against slavery in 1800.

The marker is part of Virginia’s historical highway marker program, which began in 1927 and is considered the oldest such program in the nation. The state now has more than 2,600 markers.

DHR Director Julie Langan emphasized that the markers are intended to educate the public about significant historical events, people and places, rather than serve as memorials.