Local Writer Pens History of Evergreen Cemetery

Society Board Member Donald Wilson, President of Evergreen Burial Park, has recently written a history book entitled, “Evergreen: A Century of Service,” with Denise Allen Membreno. It includes vast coverage of one of our area’s most prominently-located cemeteries and celebrates its 100 years of serving our community.

“It was the right time and it was a book that needed to be written,” said Wilson. Evergreen is the final resting place of Governor Lindsey Almond, fifteen Roanoke mayors, many Norfolk and Western Presidents, and other founding families of Roanoke, including the Fishburns. “We even have a Union Civil War soldier buried amongst 50 Confederate veterans!”

Evergreen – A Century of Service is a decade-by-decade look at the development of the modern burial park that began on the Old Solitude farm when Raleigh Court was in Roanoke County. The early founders of the cemetery had the foresight to hire a respected landscape architect firm from Kansas City that was known for cemetery development. Many of the original plantings are still found on the grounds.

The book is full of historic photographs of the cemetery as well as many of the prominent citizens who are buried in Evergreen. It also tells how the locally owned cemetery company grew and expanded its services through acquisitions in Vinton, Boones Mill, and Buena Vista.

The book is available in hardback and softcover at the History Museum’s gift shop, and online at our secure e-commerce site (click here for link)