RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has approved eight new state historical markers.

Officials say the markers cover topics in counties of Fairfax, Mecklenburg, and Shenandoah, as well as the cities of Charlottesville, Lexington, Petersburg and Richmond.

Among the markers is one marking the adoption by Virginia’s General Assembly of a statute establishing religious freedom. Others recognize the life of a free African American who became the first president of the African nation of Liberia, the battlefield promotion a Civil War hero and the founding of a college fraternity in 1865 inspired by Robert E. Lee.

The Virginia highway marker program began in 1927. There are currently more than 2,500 official state markers.

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Online:

http://www.dhr.virginia.gov

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