Photo by Jay Paul
Tucked behind a wall of pines on a hillside, Henrico’s pet cemetery is slightly out of sight. In fact, few people even know it’s there, despite being around for almost a century. But unlike the namesake of Stephen King’s terrifying tale, this pet cemetery is a place of love, providing peace to Richmond’s pet owners for generations.
Founded in 1934, Pet Memorial Park is one of the oldest active pet cemeteries in the country. (The oldest was founded in Westchester County, New York, in 1896.) Pet Memorial Park is the final resting place for thousands of cats and dogs, along with ducks, rabbits, a parrot, a goat, a famous horse and, rumor has it, a chimpanzee.
“The worst part of having a pet is having to say goodbye,” says Marsha Rodgers, the latest owner of Pet Memorial Park. “Snowball was like my firstborn. I had her before I had my kids. In my family, we bury, so when she died, we buried her.”
Photo courtesy Marsha Rodgers
Marsha and Allen Rodgers
Rodgers and her late husband Allen were visiting their shih tzu Snowball’s grave in 2016 when they heard from a fellow mourner that the 2-acre property near Tuckahoe Middle School was up for sale. “We didn’t know if someone might buy it and build houses on it, and we didn’t want to lose access to her or have to move her,” Rodgers says. “So, we came up with the money and bought it.”
One day on the property, she ran into Jane List, the daughter of the cemetery’s founder. Now 98 years old, List can still recall visiting the cemetery as a child. Her father, Hansford H. Rowe, was a veterinarian and her older brother, Hansford Rowe Jr., was a famous actor.
“Miss Jane told me so many stories about the history of this place, and I’m still in touch with the family today,” Rodgers says. “One of our famous graves is Lady Wonder Horse. She lived in the ’50s, and she was psychic — she could do math, she could read and spell.”
Photo by Laura Anders Lee
The headstone for Lady Wonder Horse, an equine from the 1950s that could do math, read and spell.
Another frequently visited gravesite is that of Tommie the pit bull. The Richmond community grieved Tommie when he was burned to death in 2019. Visitors have left numerous offerings, from polished stones, coins and flowers to a can of Tommie’s Beer from Three Notch’d Brewing Company.
While Rodgers works a full-time job in addition to managing the cemetery, she occasionally gives tours to share her knowledge of significant burials. She also works with local veterinarian offices to prepare pets for burial, and she creates custom headstones. The cost of a burial starts at around $900, depending on the size of the animal, she says.
“It’s not profitable, but it’s a passion project,” she says. “When we first bought this place, we were out here every weekend weed-eating and mowing grass. It’s harder in so many ways now that my husband is gone.”
Photo by Jay Paul
The grave of Tommie the pit bull, whose death in 2019 made national news, is among the most visited at Pet Memorial Park.
Today, Rodgers relies on volunteers to help during community clean-up events, and she may consider crowdfunding in the future. “We’re here to be a place of comfort for people who have lost their pets,” she says. “Even with all the work, owning this property feels like it was meant to be. It was always supposed to be ours.”
According to Scientific American, dogs may have been human companions as early as 40,000 years ago, and the first domesticated cats date back 10,000 years. In 2018, the Society for American Archaeology reported on a 10,000-year-old gravesite of three dogs discovered in southern Illinois believed to be the world’s oldest pet burial.
Walking through Pet Memorial Park, this age-old bond between humans and pets is palpable. There’s an inscription for Robby that his forever be filled with grass, friends, kisses and blueberries, and another for Arlo, lover of shoes and remote controls. On one elaborate grave marker, Pierre the poodle, buried in 1975, was described as beloved and faithful in a heartfelt poem. The oldest grave in the cemetery belongs to Timmie, a “Scotch” terrier, who was buried in December 1934. His simple marker says, “sadly missed.”
This time of year, death is on our minds more than usual, with skeletons, ghosts and pop-up cemeteries on every block. While Halloween is now about fun scares and trick-or-treating, its origins were about honoring the dead. More than 2,000 years ago, Celts in what is now Ireland celebrated Samhain, while Latin American cultures celebrate the Day of the Dead. In the eighth century, the Catholic church designated Nov. 1 as All Saints Day, and the night before All Hallow’s Eve, in celebration of the faithfully departed.
Now is a good opportunity to remember beloved animals that have passed on, too. While they are no longer physically here, their spirits endure.
