In the early 1920s, two cemeteries for African Americans were established along Hydraulic Road, half a mile south of Union Ridge Baptist Church. The traditional practice of burying family members on private property was giving way to interments in church or public cemeteries. With burial choices restricted by segregation, a local Black newspaper cited “a future burying-ground” for African Americans as one of the area’s greatest needs in 1921. The church and Charlottesville funeral home owner J. F. Bell purchased adjacent parcels, establishing the Union Ridge and Lincoln Cemeteries. Burials continue at both cemeteries, which have several hundred surviving gravestones.