#95 Kitty Foster Memorial

The Kitty Foster Memorial is located on UVA's South Lawn near Nau Hall on Jefferson Park Avenue.

In 1833 Catherine “Kitty” Foster, a free African American, purchased a little more than two acres of land just south of UVA’s Grounds, in a community the inhabitants referred to as Canada. There she raised her children, supporting her family by washing clothes for students and faculty. Her daughter Ann worked in the nearby infirmary (later Varsity Hall) and may have tended to wounded Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Kitty Foster died in 1863, but Canada persevered after her, becoming home to many of the University's former slaves.

In 1993, archaeologists discovered about a dozen graves in the area, and in 2005 they found twenty more. In 2011, President Teresa A. Sullivan dedicated this small park and memorial to Foster and her fellow Canadians. A "shadow catcher" outlines the footprint of Foster's house and a stone wall wraps around the unmarked graves. The site was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register in 2016.