Grave of Gov. James Lawson Kemper
Historical highway marker F-17 · Orange County
A mile west is the grave of James L. Kemper (1823-1895). Born into a prosperous slaveholding family in Madison County, Kemper practiced law and was elected to five terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he was speaker from 1861-1862. As a Confederate brigadier general, he was badly wounded during Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg in July 1863. Kemper was a founder of Virginia’s Conservative Party, formed in 1867 to oppose Radical Republicans’ policies for Reconstruction. He served as governor from 1874-1878 during a growing financial crisis precipitated by Virginia’s massive antebellum state debt. He moved to nearby Walnut Hills ca. 1882 and is buried in the family cemetery there.
Department of Historic Resources, 2024