RICHMOND, Va. — After nearly two centuries in an unmarked grave abroad, the remains of Elizabeth "Eliza" Kortright Monroe Hay, daughter of fifth U.S. President James Monroe, have finally been laid to rest in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.
The reburial is the result of efforts by author Barbara VornDick and her team at the Bringing Eliza Home Project, VornDick's passion project to tell Eliza's story and bring her home. Eliza's remains, which had spent almost 200 years in Paris' Père-Lachaise Cemetery, were brought to the U.S. in May after VornDick's six years of research and work.
"It was a relief, really, to see her coffin in the ground with her family," VornDick said. "Then I knew. I knew. I sort of immediately felt—because all this time, it's been, can we do it? Can we raise the money? Is France going to approve? So many people had to approve."
Eliza was reinterred in a ceremony at Hollywood Cemetery Thursday afternoon, buried alongside her father and other family members.
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