Mary Read Memorial relocated

The Mary Read Memorial in Canterbury Woods Park in Annandale has been relocated, Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw announced.

The memorial honors former Annandale resident Mary Read, one of 32 people killed during the massacre at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.

The community came together in the years following the tragedy to build a simple memorial in Read’s honor consisting of a plaque, stone bench, and plantings near the intersection of Braddock Road and Wakefield Chapel Road.

“Unfortunately, that memorial was located in a floodplain which led to persistent flooding,” Walkinshaw says. He worked on finding a more appropriate and accessible location in Canterbury Woods Park in consultation with the Read family and with the support of local advocates.

Related story: We remember Virginia Tech

The new location is north of the parking lot and out of the flood plain. Community members are invited to a rededication of the new memorial Saturday, April 16, the 15th anniversary of the tragedy. Walkinshaw asks attendees to be respectful of the Read family’s privacy.

The relocated memorial is “roughly the same size as the original site, in accordance with requirements to limit land disturbance in this environmentally sensitive Resource Protection Area,” Walkinshaw says. “The new site will provide a more appropriate and sustainable location.”

“This is all about remembering Mary Read with a lasting memorial, which is what she deserves,” he said.