Founded in 1868–69 by two Staunton-based African American churches, Fairview Cemetery today stands among the largest historically African American cemeteries in the Commonwealth outside of Richmond. Situated on a sloping site along Lambert Street, Fairview combines elements of the 19th century Rural Cemetery Movement and early 20th century garden or lawn cemeteries, remaining picturesque amid its now–urban setting. Its boundaries are unaltered from its original purchase in 1869, and documentary evidence is strong that its physical layout is virtually unchanged from the early 20th century, when a central road and two service buildings were constructed to accompany a Folk Victorian cottage built in the 1870s. One of only two documented African American cemeteries within the city limits of Staunton, Fairview Cemetery includes over 2,200 documented interments and an estimated 1,000 additional unmarked graves. Marked burials display a wide variety of Christian iconographic motifs and fraternal order symbols, reflecting the gamut of African American lifestyles possible in the South during its 156-year history, beginning with freedmen and the formerly enslaved and encompassing the eras of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights victories. Fairview Cemetery remains active as a de facto community cemetery for African American families throughout greater Staunton, preserving one of the least altered and most comprehensive records of African American deathways in the Shenandoah Valley.