CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A Charlottesville native has turned the site where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee once stood into a tribute to abolitionist Harriet Tubman, in honor of Juneteenth. It depicts the Underground Railroad hero’s portrait, made out of grass, with a placard that reads, “Heroes Live On.”

“10 years ago, on this dead patch of grass sat the Robert E. Lee statue that kicked off the violence in my hometown of Charlottesville,” Jake Van Yahres wrote in a social media post Friday. “For Juneteenth this morning and with only grass, I created Harriet Tubman in its place. Heroes live on.”

Van Yahres, a VCU graduate who owns JVY Creations and co-owns the Van Yahres Tree Company, credited his sister, Marcelle, with helping him with the Tubman project at Market Street Park.

Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 and worked to help others through the Underground Railroad, leading them to northern free states and Canada.

The Lee statue, a bronze statue on a granite pedestal, was unveiled in the downtown park in 1924 to honor the former Confederate general. In 1996, it was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register and, a year later, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2016, city leaders began discussing removing the statue. In 2018, the city opted to cover the statue with a black tarp. In 2021, the statue was taken down and, eventually, melted down.