Varina Davis

Birth Name:

Varina Anne Banks Howell

Birth Date:

May 7, 1826

Birth Place:

Natchez, Mississippi

Death Date:

October 16, 1906

Place of Death:

New York City, New York

Age:

Cause of Death:

Pneumonia

Cemetery Name:

Hollywood Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Historical Figure

Varina Davis was the only First Lady of the Confederate States of America, and the longtime second wife of President Jefferson Davis. Born and raised in the South and educated in Philadelphia, she had family on both sides of the conflict and unconventional views for a woman in her public role. She did not support the Confederacy's position on slavery, and was ambivalent about the war. Davis became a writer after the American Civil War, completing her husband's memoir. She was recruited by Kate (Davis) Pulitzer, a purportedly distant cousin of Varina’s husband and wife of publisher Joseph Pulitzer, to write articles and eventually a regular column for the New York World.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Hollywood Cemetery

412 South Cherry Street

Richmond, Virginia, 23220

United States

North America

Map:

Map of Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia

Grave Location:

Section Lawn, Plot A

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery turn left and follow the blue line on Eastvale Avenue. Stay to the left as it turns into Westvale Avenue and continue along, past Morton Avenue until you come to the large turnaround that contains the final resting places of Jefferson and Varina Davis.