"The most forlorn and neglected landmark of old Roanoke is the McClanahan burial plot located on a knoll..................." This quote is the one most newspaper articles and people use when describing the McClenahan Cemetery in Roanoke, Virginia. The first of two known people in this Cemetery is Colonel Elijah McClanahan, son of Roanoke Valley pioneer, William McClanahan. The other is his wife, Agatha Strother Lewis, cousin of President James Madison and grand-daughter of General Andrew Lewis, a Virginia hero of the Revolutionary War. An archaeological dig undertaken by nearby Radford University indicates there may be a total of eleven gravesites in the Cemetery. Other than the two we know of, the remaining may possibly be children and/or some slaves that were reported to be owned by the family at the time.

The Family........The origins of the McClanahans in the Roanoke area began in the late 18th century when William McClanahan and his wife, Sarah Neeley, came to the Valley. William very quickly acquired over 4,000 acres in what is now known as Roanoke City. Part of that acreage included The Mill at the foot of Mill Mountain. William and Sarah had a number of children who, like their father, had an definite impact on the early development and growth of Roanoke itself as well as the surrounding area. It is estimated that at one time the McClanahan family owned much of Roanoke. When William died in 1820, most of his land went to two of his sons, Elijah and James. Over the years, all the land previously owned by the McClanahan family passed from their hands. All that remains today is the 1/4 acre tract where the Cemetery lies. The only recognition given this pioneer family and the significant role they played in Roanoke history is a street and a building bearing the name McClanahan.

Historically Speaking........What should be a proud, historical reminder of the rich history of Roanoke is instead a deserted, overgrown hillside in the Northwest part of this Virginia city. The brick wall surrounding the grave marker is crumbling and the headstone is barely readable. Wild growth and trash are abound and, quite literally, the site could simply be called a trash dump. Most cities would welcome an opportunity to erect a monument to a founding family given a situation such as this, however, Roanoke City seems to have a strong tendency to ignore this portal to their past. As far back as 1965, attention was drawn to the sad state of this Cemetery by the local newspaper, but to no avail. Another indication of the lack of concern by the city is the fact that in 1986, an automobile accident destroyed a historical marker which was the only public official recognition of the Cemetery. This marker had been erected by the local chapter of the DAR. It took the city 12 years to replace it.

Current State of Affairs........It was through this lack of concern by the city to replace the marker that a local Judge became involved. After visiting the site and seeing the deplorable condition, an Ad-Hoc Committee was soon formed with the Judge as its Chairman. The initial effort was to simply get the historical marker replaced, however, it soon developed into a series of meetings to try to obtain formal recognition of the Cemetery as a Historical Site and have the city take over the care and management of it. This very quickly ran into a series of obstructions. The Cemetery regained local and state notoriety again in early 1997 when an Eagle Scout, after extensive efforts to locate a living descendant of Elijah McClanahan and Agatha, did, in fact, find one and finally obtained permission to begin an extensive clean-up of the site. Our Eagle Scout's goals were twofold. The first was to earn his Eagle Badge for Community Service. Secondly, he saw a need to restore community pride in what he felt was a significantly historical part of Roanoke's past. In all fairness to Roanoke City, there were some efforts to accomplish an initial clean-up in late 1996, however, by Spring of 1997, the site was wildly overgrown again. Our Eagle Scout, with help and support from family and friends, cleaned up the area again, put in a couple of walkways and placed a park bench at the site. Some materials were donated by small local merchants, but our Eagle Scout was amazed by the lack of response from the larger businesses in Roanoke. They simply refused. After a Summer of extensive effort though, the project was finally completed. However, regardless of all the hard work, there is still no action to maintain the site. Consequently, Mother Nature has prevailed and the Cemetery again is becoming overgrown.

The Battle Continues.......The Ad-Hoc Committee continues its efforts to get Roanoke City to take over care and maintenance of the Cemetery. As of now, the city still refuses for fear it will set a precedence. If they take care of this one Cemetery, they are fearful that they will then be forced to take care of all other private or abandoned Cemeteries. There seems to be other cases where the city is maintaining certain other commemorative sites that may conflict with their stand on this issue. While there are a number of legal issues involved in this matter, none appear to be insurmountable. From all concerned, it simply appears as if Roanoke City has no desire to recognize some of its more historical past. In the meantime, volunteer efforts are underway to provide access to the Cemetery and two new tombstones with the original inscriptions are ready to be put in place. The work goes on.

Final Comments........While I could go on, suffice to say I wish the visitor to this site to become informed and interested, not bored. If you wish further details about Roanoke City, the Cemetery or the McClanahan family, please contact Joe McClenahan, and I will be more than happy to provide you with any details you may wish. My wife and I visited Roanoke in September 1998 and while impressed with a number of local people we met, were considerably upset by the conditions of the Cemetery. I can only guess what it looked like prior to all the work. If you have read this far, I only have two last items to say here. First, if you have any inclination to help in this restoration effort, money is needed. Even if you could only afford $5.00 or $10.00, it would be greatly appreciated. The donation should be sent by check or money order made out to: History Museum & Historical Society of Western Virginia. Mark it "For McClanahan Cemetery Project" and mail to: History Museum and Historical Society of Western Virginia, P.O. Box 1904, Roanoke, VA 24008. If you can't afford to send anything, then at least consider a letter to the Mayor's office to state your feelings regarding the restoration of this historical site. That address is: Mayor of the City of Roanoke, Room 452 Municipal Building, 215 Church Avenue, SW, Roanoke, VA 24011-1594. My thanks regardless of what you may decide. I will update this page as new information becomes available.