Vandals strike at Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery

Gravestones and memorials were toppled and spray-painted at a cemetery in Virginia that holds the graves of two U.S. presidents as well as Confederate soldiers and generals.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that $200,000 worth of damage was done Saturday at the Hollywood Cemetery.

The cemetery spans 135 acres and overlooks the James River in Richmond. More than 18,000 Confederate soldiers and generals are buried there.

The damage was done in the Presidents Circle section of the cemetery. That’s where U.S. presidents James Monroe and John Tyler are buried. Their graves weren’t disturbed.

Police Chief Gerald Smith there was no clear markings that the graves that were desecrated had anything to do with the Confederacy.

“Regardless of where the grave is or whose grave it is, that is something that I don’t believe the citizens of Richmond can tolerate,” he said.

(IMAGE: Tomb of President James Monroe / Hollywood Cemetery / Facebook)