SCA Crew Completes Project at Yorktown National Cemetery

Project Overview

In the fall of 2025, a Student Conservation Association (SCA) crew aligned, leveled, or reset 617 of the headstones at Yorktown National Cemetery. The five-member crew consulted with Colonial National Historical Park staff and the NPS Historic Architecture Conservation and Engineering Center (HACE) on site history and technique, completing the project work as they gained skills in historic preservation. Their effort, supported by funding from the National Park Foundation, helps to preserve the area’s history and honors and recognizes the individuals buried here who lost their lives for the country.

The SCA crew leveled, aligned, and reset 617 grave markers at Yorktown National Cemetery. The sections and rows of burials, as well as the lodge shown here in the back left, reflect the cemetery's original design in the years after the Civil War. NPS

The crew removed each stone from the ground, added gravel for stabilization, topped it with sand, and leveled the base. They then reset each stone at the proper height, supported it in place with topsoil, and seeded the surface with turf. They also cleaned any heavy debris off the surface of the stones using dry brushing.

One stone at a time, the crew transformed rows of sunken, misaligned, or root-disrupted markers into orderly, dignified lines that honor the memory of those who are interred here.

The crew completed over one-third of the 1596 markers and far exceeded their initial goal of 500 headstones. Many of these were in the front section of the cemetery, where the markers are more visible. There are no formal paths through the interiors of the four grave sections, and the primary walkways that mark the borders between sections have a turf surface, so the pathways and lawns are not clearly distinguished. As a result of foot traffic, particularly in the front section of the cemetery, headstones in this area were more heavily impacted.

The attention to the headstones demonstrates care and respect towards military veterans, families, and all visitors to the national cemetery. The crew’s work also improves access by making it easier to read the inscriptions.

A grant from the National Park Foundation helped finance the rehabilitation project. The crew worked as a team through the fall to make decisions and meet the project goals, and the cemetery remained open to visitors during the project.

Colonial National Historical Park was proud to showcase the results of their efforts during the annual Wreaths Across America event in December 2025 and intends to complete the remaining headstones as part of a 2026 rehabilitation project.

Wreaths mark each headstone in Yorktown National Cemetery in December 2025 during the annual Wreaths Across America event. NPS

About Yorktown National Cemetery

Yorktown, Virginia is known as the site of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War. In October of 1781, British General Cornwallis and his army surrendered to General George Washington and the allied American and French forces to secure the new nation’s independence. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Yorktown was also an important strategic military position for both the Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War.

Yorktown National Cemetery was designed with graves arranged in a grid of parallel rows divided into four sections by perpendicular avenues. A circular flagstaff mound stood at the intersection of the two primary walkways, once surfaced with gravel. Note the upright headstones, shown here in 1879. NPS / Colonial National Historical Park Archives

Yorktown National Cemetery, located just south of Yorktown was established in 1866 for Union solider burials. The final interments occurred in the 1920s, and in 1933 the War Department transferred care of the cemetery to the National Park Service. The cemetery contains 1,596 marked and 608 unmarked graves, of which 747 are known and 1,457 are unknown individuals. After its initial creation, Yorktown National Cemetery was developed through the 1870s according to design guidelines issued by the US Army’s Quartermaster Department for the National Cemetery System. Notable characteristics and features of the current landscape, such as the superintendent’s lodge and the formal alignment of graves and sections, date to this period and reflect the original design.

Four sections of engraved marble stones mark the burials in Yorktown National Cemetery. The flat grave markers, placed in neat linear rows and flush with the turf, replaced the upright marble headstones beginning in 1934 to streamline maintenance and create a sense of an open lawn-style landscape.

Over time, the headstones have settled and sunk deeper into the ground, and in some cases have become uneven or difficult to read.

Preservation in National Cemeteries

The National Park Service published the National Cemetery Standards in 2025 to guide practices and operations that will help ensure the consistent care and preservation of the 14 national cemeteries managed by the NPS.

For example, the National Cemetery Standards for the category of headstones and gravesites define measurable expectations for qualities like alignment, height, and condition. Details and plans that are specific to each site are located in other documents, such as a Cultural Landscape Report or Preservation Maintenance Plan.

Together, these resources guide decisions and processes of national cemetery preservation. Projects and people then help turn the planning into action.

Project Summary

Goal

• Excavate, align, raise or lower, and reset severely misaligned grave markers at Yorktown National Cemetery.

Who

• Student Conservation Association (SCA) Crew of 5: Josie Sprenger, Katharine Tracey, Lexie Hamley, Kaden Otte, Zarai Benito
• NPS staff and trainers: Colonial National Historical Park Facility Manager Matt Henderson, Colonial National Historical Park Cultural Resources Manager Ron Grayson, HACE Senior Conservator Judy Jacob

When

• September to November, 2025
• Project results were on display during the annual Wreaths Across America event, December 2025

Where

Yorktown National Cemetery - part of Colonial National Historical Park, Virginia

**How **

• SCA project, supported by a Service Corps Grant from the National Park Foundation
• First of two project phases

Project Outcomes

• Improved 617 headstones
• Honors the lives and memory of those who are buried at Yorktown National Cemetery, and contributes to a more dignified commemorative landscape for military veterans, families, and all visitors
• Improves legibility and visibility of the names on the grave markers
• Skills development in conservation, problem-solving, and group decision making

Before and After: Grave 40

Left image

Grave 40 before improvements

Credit: NPS

Right image

Grave 40 after improvements

Credit: NPS

Where this belongs

• Colonial National Historical Park
• Yorktown Battlefield Part of Colonial National Historical Park

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