This is the entrance to the cemetery which goes over the hill. The gate was locked but access can be made to the left of the wooden fence.

New Hope United Methodist Church (formerly New Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church) of New River, Virginia.

New River Cemetery in New River, Pulaski County, Virginia is a historically significant, predominantly African American grave site founded in 1879 by former slaves who were the early inhabitants of the community that was then known as New River Depot. The two and a half acres in which the cemetery lies, however, was not officially purchased until 1903, when a group of "five or six prominent blacks" from New River bought it for that expressed purpose, (even though it was already being used as such).1 Its earliest known tombstone is from 1882—a result of the small pox and typhoid fever epidemics that ravaged both Pulaski and Montgomery Counties at that time. Due to its casual land use, however, the New River Cemetery probably has older grave sites. They just haven't been documented yet. The cemetery came into existence along with the still standing New Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church (now known as New Hope United Methodist Church) on Church Street from a land grant made by Lewis Sheffey in 1879. Lewis Sheffey, born about 1820 in Roanoke County, Virginia; died 1893, was the first minister of the church, which subsequently divided into two congregations in 1890. The other church now known as the First Missionary Baptist Church stands on Fort Hill in New River [locally known as "The Baptist Hill"].2 Lewis Sheffey was an ex-slave whose last owner was William Montague (1825-1896) of Montgomery County, Virginia. He came to New River in 1872 with his wife Mary Lewis Sheffey (born abt. 1833; died unknown), and soon became one of its leading citizens. Mary Lewis Sheffey's former slave owner was "George W. Curran" [perhaps Waddy G. Currin (1814-1872)], also of Montgomery County, Virginia. 3

Author, Linda Killen, in her book, "The Whartons’ Town New River Depot, 1870-1940", Radford University, 1993, Page 9, wrote that: “Lewis Sheffey had formed a black congregation in 1872 with the assistance of Charles Schaeffer, a white Freedmen’s Bureau officer with Philadelphia Quaker ties who long served the New River Valley as church organizer, minister, and teacher. According to church records, ‘Families cut down trees, cleared brush, and made seats from tree stumps. The pulpit consisted of space between two seats with the Bible resting on a slab placed between the trees.’ When Sheffey moved his home to a new location in 1879, he deeded his 1872 purchase to the ‘New River African Church’ [plus the New River Cemetery] and services were probably held there at least through 1887.”

Early trustees for Lewis Sheffey's first church were "Charles McDaniel, John Charlton, Joseph Bibby and Rush Floyd". Early trustees for the Methodist church were "Russell Page, Charles and William Saunders, Thomas Minter, and Killis Clark".4

There are many graves in the cemetery that apparently have no tombstone or are unmarked. There are five or six tombstones that have fallen over; therefore, I was unable to read them when I surveyed the cemetery on May 1, 2014. The cemetery is well tended and I was told by Ms. Irene Burks and her sister, Emily Lack, who live on Church Street that it is in the care of the First Missionary Baptist Church of New River, Virginia.

--Christopher Walker, 05-30-2014

1. See "The Whartons' Town New River Depot, 1870-1940", Linda Killen, 1945-2003, Radford, VA: Radford University, College of Arts and Sciences, 1993, page 55.

2. See "These People Lived in a Pleasant Valley: A History of Slaves and Freedmen in Nineteenth Century Pulaski County, VA"; Linda Killen, 1945-2003, Radford, VA: Radford University, College of Arts and Sciences, 1996, pages 105-107; and "The Whartons' Town New River Depot, 1870-1940", Linda Killen, 1945-2003, Radford, VA: Radford University, College of Arts and Sciences, 1993, pages 7-9 & 62.

3. See "Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Letters or Correspondence, 1865-1872", Digital Folder #4152454, Image 239, 1865 Montgomery County Colored Census, at FamilySearch.org; and the 1866 Montgomery County, Virginia Cohabitation Register, "Lewis Sheffy", page 8, line 14 at the Library of Virginia's website: www.virginiamemory.com/collections/collections_a_to_z

4. See also "These People Lived in a Pleasant Valley: A History of Slaves and Freedmen in Nineteenth Century Pulaski County, VA"; Linda Killen, 1945-2003, Radford, VA: Radford University, College of Arts and Sciences, 1996, Chapter 14, Page 105.