The restoration of the fencing was the work of iron work artisan John Robbins. Iron and Ironworks in the Old City Cemetery Much of our decorative American wrought and cast ironwork of the Nineteenth Century was lost during World War II when scrap iron was essential for many war projects. Considering that numerous iron structures were dismantled and melted down, the amount of remaining ironwork in Lynchburg's Old City Cemetery is quite remarkable. Iron and ironworking comprised a large portion of the Central Virginia economy in the 19th Century and it is likely that the iron used in the Old City Cemetery came from local furnaces. Wrought iron is a malleable form of iron in which the individual pieces are actually formed by hand allowing for a breadth of individual expression from the artisan.
Cast iron is formed in a mold or cast and is more uniform in appearance.
A seam from the cast is often visible on the cast iron parts of the enclosures. The Family Burial Sites in the older sections of this cemetery are bordered by decorative iron enclosures. The iron forms in these decorative borders are either wrought or cast. The earliest enclosures date from approximately the middle 1850's. These architecturally interesting structures served to decorate and enhance, as well as enclose and protect.