On Saturday, November 11th from 10 – 3 pm JoAnn Meaker, will be at Books, Beads & More (8324 Bell Creek Road, Mechanicsville) to sign her newest release, Stories Beneath the Stones: Richmond National Cemetery.

Beyond the cemetery gates are row upon row of identical headstones – each featuring the name and regiment of a soldier. As you pause before one and read the name, have you ever wondered about the soldier who gave his life for our country? After years of extensive research, Meaker compiled stories of over 860 Civil War soldiers who were interred in the Richmond National Cemetery when it opened 150 years ago. What happened to two soldiers from Iowa that will forever join their stories together? How did Henry Menard come to his tragic end?

Meaker is also the author of Images of America, Ontario, an Arcadia Publications book written to commemorate the bicentennial of the town of Ontario, New York. Two historical mysteries followed, My Dear Emma and Four Branches which are both partially set during the Civil War era. A Line of Shorts, a book of short stories, and children’s fantasy story, Nola’s Gift completes the list of books she’s written, but she’s also published a series of historic newspaper articles and her work has appeared in several anthologies.

A retired teacher, she and her husband Norm moved to the Richmond area from Ontario, in western New York State, where she volunteered for many years for the town’s Historical Society, was the organization’s President and archivist, and served as organizer of Civil War reenactments at the Society-owned museum. Since relocating to Richmond, Meaker has been very active in the Hanover County Rotary Club, is the current president of the Hanover Writers Club and is on the board of the Virginia Writers Club.