The Hord Family Cemetery at Shady Grove
Caroline County, Virginia

In 1941, the US Army began construction of Fort AP Hill which is an artillery training base located in Caroline County, Virginia. Prior to construction, the Army evicted the families living on the properties they wanted to build their new facility. During construction, the Army identified all public and private cemeteries within the boundary of the new facility and hired a local funeral home to move their 2500+ graves to two nearby cemeteries, one for whites and one for blacks.

The Army identified two private cemeteries on one of the condemned properties known as Shady Grove, tract # 1284. One of these cemeteries is the Hord Family Cemetery containing approximately 40 graves; the other is a slave cemetery containing more than one hundred graves. The Army prevented the movement of these cemeteries in order to expedite artillery training exercises. Several years ago, according to the Commander of Fort AP Hill, Lt. Colonel Peter Dargel, the Army "rediscovered" these cemeteries which are located in their artillery training "impact zone". He further stated that the Army would avoid these cemeteries in future artillery exercises but that they had no plans to move their graves.

WARNING! Access to these cemeteries by the public and family is prohibited by the US Army because of the danger posed by unexploded artillery shells in and around this area.

John and Elizabeth Hord immigrated from England to the Virginia Colony in 1702. In 1715 they settled in Caroline County where they established the Shady Grove plantation; the Hord family owned this plantation until 1821. Both John and Jane Hord are buried in the Hord Family Cemetery there. Moreover, it is believed that ten other family members buried in cemetery are veterans of the Revolutionary War, one of them was an officer stationed at Valley Forge. Shady Grove and its cemeteries are located in tract #1284 at the coordinates: Lat 38º 06' 03" and Lon 77º 10' 20"