Annapolis National Cemetery Improvements - Annapolis MD

City:: Annapolis, MD
Site Type:: Civic Facilities, Cemeteries
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Started:: 1936
Completed:: 1941

Description

From the National Park Service: “One of the 14 national cemeteries that date from the Civil War, the Annapolis National Cemetery is the final resting place for many Union soldiers who died in the nearby ‘parole camps’ and hospitals of the Maryland capital” (see source note below).

Maintenance ledgers (see image below for an example) show that the WPA did extensive work at the cemetery, such as installing utilities, realigning headstones, removing dead trees, and constructing a utility building.

A superintendent’s lodge was built in 1871 and then replaced between 1936 and 1941 with the current lodge. It appears that WPA laborers played a role in this transition, but more research is needed to determine the extent of their work.

Source notes

(1) National Park Service, “Annapolis National Cemetery Annapolis, Maryland,” https://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/Maryland/Annapolis_National_Cemetery.html, accessed June 17, 2014. (2) Maintenance ledgers, provided by the Department Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, 2013.

Site originally submitted by Brent McKee on June 17, 2014.