Browse Exhibits (35 total)

Davis Family Cemetery

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Pinn Family Cemetery

The Pinn Family cemetery is made of members of the Pinn, Stokes and Bailey Families, of Manassas Virginia. The cemetery is surrounded by townhomes deep in the pockets of Prince William Counties vast Suburbia. There are 11 known members of these three families buried there today, some rest in marked graves and some without. The oldest marker belongs to Howison and Patti Pinn, husband and wife. The other memebers that have marked graves are Addison Bailey, Hannah Bailey, Addison G. Bailey, James Curtis and his wife Lucy Curtis. The graves that are no longer legible belonged to Francis Montgomery Stokes, Herbert le Stokes, Hubbard lee Francis Stokes and one that is unidentified. 

The graveyard lies on their property's eastern edge, known as Paradise Plantation. They obtained this property in the 1850's giving them a front row seat to the first battle of the civil war.

Following the civil war Howison Pinn's son became an advocate when he started pushing on local judges for not allowing free men of color to serve on juries. His documented public life was short lived but the life he lived before his death was relativly well endowed.

The Godfrey Family Cemetery

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Jermantown Cemetery

Jermantown Cemetery was created in 1868 for the black families of Fairfax County. Due to the harsh segregationist sentiment during this time period, Alfred Whaley, Thomas Sinkfield and Milton Brooks purchased one acre of land together and set up a community cemetery for the people of color that were denied access to the Fairfax City Cemetery. All trustees died without heirs to care for the cemetery, so now it's care falls under the City of Fairfax. The cemetery is located on the south side of Route 50, 1/4 mile west of Route 29-211. According to the FCCPA, this cemetery contains approximately 40 headstones but was said to have over a hundred unmarked graves. The most notable of the deceased buried here are:

  • George C. Lamb, a free black man who served as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War
  • Harace Gibson, a freed slave who later owned his own blacksmith shop in Annandale
  • James A. Harris, a U.S. Marine Corps Korean War veteran 

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Elgin-Brown Family Cemetery

This exhibit documents the Elgin-Brown Cemetery in Clifton, VA. The cemetery is home to at least eight members of the Elgin family who lived in the Clifton area during the 19th century. The family serves as an example of an average family living at that time. They also give way to the topic of eugenics as the youngest member of the family, Isaac Elgin, was a patient at the Western State Hospital where sterilizations were carried out during the 21st century.

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Lyon Family Civil War Era Cemetery

Pvt. Richard "Dick" Moran, known as the "Warring Methodist", a member of the 43rd  Va. Cavalry and leading member of "Mosby's Rangers" is buried here.  Also buried here are members of the Burdine, Edwards, Havener, Hawes, Jackson, Lyon, Moran, Paxson, and Shryock Families.

The graveyard is in disrepair, with most residents' headstones missing (including Dick Moran's).  Other headstones are barely legible, broken and cracked, or fallen over.  The grass has long overrun the area, concealing tombstones, rocks, and ruts.  There are also various holes created by burrowing critters, either just into the ground or even into graves themselves.  

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Thompson Family Cemetery

This is an exhibit of the tombstones in Thompson Family Cemetery. I chose this cemetery because it is only a few minutes of driving from both the Fairfax campus and from my home. It is a half-acre hill surrounded by supermarkets, a Wells Fargo Bank, and a gas station. In the words of Alfred Thompson: “a little green oasis floating on a sea of asphalt.” It is a pity to see some of the headstones being ill-maintained and have almost collapsed. However, a few of them are still standing firmly, including the John Compton Tobin, Laura Virginia Tobin, and Amanda Abigail Tobin’s tomb, and the tombstone of Armistead Thompson, a Confederate veteran that had fought in Gettysburg, and got captured and died as a POW after 17 months of imprisonment at 27 years of age. 

Lewinsville Presbyterian Church Cemetery

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The Lewinsville Presbyterian Church is located in McLean, Virginia with approximately 1500 plots, including several notable families in the McLean community like the Ball family and Magarity family. The church was established in 1846 and served as a military compound during the Civil War for the Union. The congregation prides itself on its resilience as well as their ability to bring the community together, something that has been a distinguishable aspect of the church since its founding. 

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Garner Family Cemetery

This small cemetery is located in Fountainhead Regional Park in Fairfax County, Virginia. It is home to the Garner family, who lived in a house nearby before it burned down in 1966. The land was sold to the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority in 1971.

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Brown's Memorial Cemetery

The Brown's Memorial Cemetery, deeded in 1930 by Herbert Brown, is located just off of Leesburg Pike in Drainesville, Virginia.  It is a two acre plot that includes a fenced in 75'x75' plot reserved for the Brown family, their spouses, and their children.  There are a total of 33 graves inside of the iron fence, with 6 others just outside of the fence.  Although most of the headstones have no additional information about the people buried other than their names and dates of birth and death, there are two headstones that have additional elements.  Most notably, the headstone belonging to Russell C. Wintersteen bears a Masonic emblem.  This emblem led me to do more research on the Freemasons, which shaped my argument for my research paper about racism within fraternal organizations in the United States.  

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