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 

Credits

Jennifer Lyons-Montgomery