Flippen Cemetery

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The Flippen Cemetery is a historic African American cemetery located in a wooded area south of Mayfield Road, which contains the burial places for at least 274 ancestors from the community. Some of the foremost families whose ancestors are buried in the Flippen Cemetery include the Flippen, Adams, Swann, and Hodnett families. The date of the first interment in the cemetery is currently unknown. What is known is in 1876 an 80-acre property in which the cemetery is located was sold to Isaac Flippen, a Black man who was born in 1824. It is uncertain if Isaac was free or if he was enslaved at some point. Isaac’s descendants owned the land until 1963.

 

Many of the graves are unmarked and can only be discerned by depressions in the ground. Others are marked with uninscribed field stones.  At least nineteen graves have inscribed grave markers, the latest of which dates to 1950.

 

After family members lost control of the cemetery property, the cemetery was used as a dumping ground for many years.  It has recently been cleared of most of the trash and debris.  Small trees and leaves were cleared out of part of the cemetery in 2019 by local Scout Troop 300; and it was partially mapped by Longwood University in 2019. The Southside African American Cemetery Preservation Society recently gained full ownership of the cemetery after eight years of working toward this goal.