In June of 2025, we traveled to Richmond, Virginia, and one of the most anticipated stops on our itinerary was Hollywood Cemetery. Nestled along the James River, this historic cemetery immediately impressed us with its sheer size, rolling hills, and quiet, reflective atmosphere. From the moment we entered, it was clear that this was not a location you could fully appreciate in a quick visit—it demanded time, patience, and curiosity.

Hollywood Cemetery is vast, and we quickly realized that seeing everything in a single afternoon would be impossible. We spent several hours exploring the grounds over two different days, carefully navigating winding roads and footpaths while searching for specific graves and monuments. Each section seemed to reveal something new, whether it was an elaborate mausoleum, a weathered headstone, or a scenic overlook that offered sweeping views of the river below.

Before the trip, Marianne dedicated several hours to researching the cemetery, compiling an extensive list of gravesites we wanted to find. Her research became invaluable once we arrived, especially given the cemetery’s size and the number of historically significant individuals buried there. Among the many notable internments on our list were two U.S. presidents, along with military figures, local legends, and names tied deeply to Richmond’s past.

Armed with our research, maps, and notes, we treated our visits almost like a scavenger hunt through history. Some graves were easy to locate, while others took patience and multiple passes through the grounds. The process of searching made the experience even more engaging, as each successful find felt earned and added another layer to our understanding of the cemetery’s importance.

Knowing how much time we planned to spend at Hollywood Cemetery, we intentionally chose a hotel nearby and used it as our base of operations while in Richmond. This made it easy to return for a second day without feeling rushed and allowed us to explore at a comfortable pace. By the end of our visit, Hollywood Cemetery had become one of the most memorable stops of our trip—a place where history, landscape, and quiet reflection came together in a powerful way.

A cast Newfoundland stands quiet guard over the grave of Florence Bernardin Rees, a little girl not yet three years old when she died of scarlet fever in 1862, now buried in Hollywood Cemetery. During her short life, Florence often toddled along Broad Street with her father, delighting in the storefront displays, especially one featuring a large cast-iron Newfoundland dog that she loved so much she would climb onto it and ride it, grinning with joy. After her death, the shopkeeper—deeply affected by the loss of the cheerful child who had become a familiar presence—believed the dog belonged with Florence and worked with her father to ensure it was placed at her grave.

In doing so, Florence unwittingly saved the iron dog itself, for at the height of the Civil War nearly all ornamental iron in Richmond was being donated to be melted down for weapons at Tredegar Iron Works, just around the corner, the South’s primary source for heavy guns and ordnance. Church bells and decorative iron were willingly sacrificed, and the dog surely would have been as well. Chosen in metal so it would survive the war, the statue remains today, surrounded by lingering paranormal claims that it has been seen to subtly change positions, as if the faithful Newfoundland is still watching over the child it once brought such happiness to.

The most prominent Confederate memorial in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery is the Monument to the Confederate War Dead, a striking 90-foot-tall pyramid of rough-hewn granite that rises above the rolling landscape to mark the burial area of thousands of Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. Designed by engineer Charles Henry Dimmock and completed in 1869 through funds raised largely by the women of the Hollywood Memorial Association, the monument was built using massive blocks of granite quarried from the James River and assembled without mortar, a testament to both the craftsmanship of its builders and the era’s commemorative spirit. The pyramid serves as a collective tribute to the roughly 18,000 Confederate dead interred at Hollywood Cemetery, which itself was established in the mid-19th century and became a focal point for post-war memorialization in the former capital of the Confederacy.

George E. Pickett was a Confederate general best known for leading Pickett’s Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the most infamous and costly assaults of the Civil War. A Virginia native and West Point graduate, Pickett became a symbol of the Confederate Army’s bravery and tragic miscalculation. His name remains permanently linked to Gettysburg, where his division’s charge marked a turning point in the war.

John Wesley Culp was a tragic and deeply personal figure of the Battle of Gettysburg, embodying the painful divisions of the American Civil War. Born and raised in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Culp moved south to Virginia before the war and ultimately enlisted in the Confederate Army. In July 1863, fate brought him back to his hometown—not as a resident, but as a soldier in gray. During the fighting on Culp’s Hill, a position named for his family, John Wesley Culp was killed in combat, reportedly near land where he had once hunted and walked as a boy. His body was later identified by childhood friends after the battle and laid to rest in the Culp family cemetery nearby. Today, his story is often cited as one of Gettysburg’s most haunting reminders of a nation divided, and some believe his spirit still lingers on Culp’s Hill, drawn eternally to the place he once called home.

J.E.B. Stuart was one of the Confederacy’s most celebrated cavalry commanders, known for his flamboyant style, bold raids, and mastery of reconnaissance. Before suffering a mortal wound at the Battle of Yellow Tavern in 1864, Stuart played a crucial role in many early Confederate victories. General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia suffered a major blow when Stuart died.

John Tyler served as the tenth president of the United States and holds the distinction of being the first vice president to assume the presidency after a president’s death. A Virginia statesman, Tyler later sided with the Confederacy, making him the only U.S. president to be buried under a Confederate flag. His political career reflects the deep sectional divisions that ultimately led to the Civil War.

James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States and one of the nation’s Founding Fathers. Best known for the Monroe Doctrine, he played a key role in shaping early American foreign policy. Monroe also served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, linking the nation’s fight for independence with its early years of governance.

Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. He was a former U.S. He served as both a senator and the Secretary of War. senator and secretary of war, Davis led the Confederacy through its four-year struggle against the Union. After the war, he was imprisoned but never tried for treason, remaining a deeply controversial figure in American history.

Local residents claim that the mausoleum of W.W. Pool (dated 1913) in Hollywood Cemetery holds the remains of a vampire. Supposedly Pool was run out of England in the 19th century for being a vampire. Oral legends to this effect were circulating by the 1960s. They may be influenced by the architecture of the tomb, which has both Masonic and ancient Egyptian elements, as well as double Ws that look like fangs. Because this cemetery is adjacent to Virginia Commonwealth University, the story became popular among students, especially from the 1980s onward. It was first mentioned in print in the student newspaper Commonwealth Times in 1976.

Since 2001, the vampire story has been combined with the collapse of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad's Church Hill Tunnel under Church Hill, a neighborhood of eastern Richmond, Virginia, which buried several workers on Friday, October 2, 1925. This part of the story showed up online in 2001 and was first reported in print in 2007 in Haunted Richmond: The Shadows of Shockoe.

According to this newer story, the tunneling awakened an ancient evil that lived under Church Hill and brought the tunnel crashing down on the workers. Rescue teams found an unearthly blood-covered creature with jagged teeth and skin hanging from its muscular body crouching over one of the victims. The creature escaped from the cave-in and raced toward the James River. Pursued by a group of men, the creature took refuge in Hollywood Cemetery (2.2 miles away), where it disappeared in a mausoleum built into a hillside bearing the name W. W. Pool.

According to Gregory Maitland, an urban legend and folklore researcher with the paranormal research groups Night Shift and the Virginia Ghosts & Haunting Research Society, the "creature" that escaped the tunnel collapse was actually the 28-year-old railroad fireman, Benjamin F. Mosby (1896-1925), who had been shoveling coal into the firebox of a steam locomotive of a work train with no shirt on when the cave-in occurred and the boiler ruptured. Mosby's upper body was horribly scalded, and several of his teeth were broken before he made his way through the opening of the tunnel. Witnesses reported he was in shock, and layers of his skin were hanging from his body. He died later at Grace Hospital and was buried at Hollywood Cemetery.

Marianne took 291 photos while we were at this cemetery. You can click on the "more photos" button below to see all of these photographs.