Virginia Department of Historic Resources
(dhr.virginia.gov)
For Immediate Release
February 2026
Contact:
Ivy Tan
Department of Historic Resources
Marketing & Communications Manager
ivy.tan@dhr.virginia.gov
804-482-6445
—A portion of the state’s general fund has been set aside to support research on and memorialization of lynchings that occurred in Virginia from 1607 and beyond—
RICHMOND – The Department of Historic Resources (DHR) has announced a special project to place state historical highway markers at or near the sites of lynchings that took place in the Commonwealth. The General Assembly allocated funds for this purpose in an amendment to the biennium budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which was signed on May 2, 2025, by Governor Glenn Youngkin.
The budget amendment states the following:
Out of the amounts in this item, $76,008 the first year from the general fund is provided to support research on historical lynchings that occurred in Virginia from 1607 through the present, including: (i) identification of descendants or relatives of lynching victims to participate in the memorialization process to ensure victims are respectfully and sensitively identified and remembered; (ii) identification of the precise or approximate geographic location where a lynching occurred and designation of such locations as historic landmarks pursuant to §10.1-2206.1, Code of Virginia; and (iii) placement of historical markers at or near such identified sites. Any funding remaining at the end of the fiscal year shall be carried forward into the next fiscal year for the purposes described in this paragraph.
The allocated funds will allow for the creation of approximately 15 new historical highway markers. All funds for the project will be used by DHR to cover administrative and manufacturing costs related to the development of new markers. Organizations and local governments are invited to nominate sites to be marked. Nomination forms, which provide more information about the project, are available through this link or this webpage.
DHR will consider nominations on a rolling basis.
Virginia’s historical highway marker program began in 1927 with installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1. It is considered the oldest such program in the nation. Currently there are more than 2,600 state markers, mostly maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation, except in those localities outside of VDOT’s authority.
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