Fauquier Times: Other Thoroughfare community cemetaries

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Other Thoroughfare community cemeteries | | fauquier.com

  • By Robin Earl Times Staff Writer
  •  Updated 
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The graves in the Peyton cemetery are hard to spot because they are marked with rough, unmarked stones.

Photo by Robin Earl

Besides the Scott Cemetery, another small community cemetery in Thoroughfare is known as the Peyton Cemetery; it is within site of the Farm Brewery at Broad Run. Peyton Cemetery, or Potter’s Field, is home to 80 to 100 graves, Frank Washington said, many marked only by rough stones. A circle of trees surrounds most of the marked graves, but Washington believes that there could be many more, because of stones placed at what could be the head and foot of depressed areas within the fence.

Washington said that Justin Patton, archeologist with Prince William County, told him that there appear to be many more graves, buried in rows of ten graves each.

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This is the oldest marked grave in the Peyton cemetery. According to Frank Washington, it belongs to Susan Peyton, 1835-1884.

Photo by Robin Earl

The oldest marked grave in the Peyton Cemetery is for Susan Peyton, 1835-1884, but some of the unmarked graves could be much older.

The cemetery is located on a 2-acre parcel owned by W.M. Tinder, Inc.

Realtor Kemper Quaintance, who represents W.M. Tinder Inc., said his client has owned the land as an investment property for 30 years and has always allowed descendants and others to visit the cemeteries, as is required by law. Quaintance also noted that someone recently came onto the property to clear away brush and erect a fence around some of the gravesites, all of which was fine with the landowner, he said.

But problems arose over the prospect of additional burials on the property, something that is not allowed without the landowner’s permission, according to state law. As a result, a letter from Tinder’s attorney was sent to a nearby landowner notifying them that the cemetery cannot further expand without such permission, Quaintance said.

“Just because your family members are there, if you don’t own the property, you don’t have the ability to expand” the cemetery, he explained.

The cemeteries are protected by both Virginia law and Prince William County ordinances, which dictate the preservation of informal family cemeteries. If the site is developed commercially, the new owner would need to hire a professional archeologist to map out the limits of the gravesites and then cordon them off with a fence and buffer. State law mandates that access to cemeteries be maintained for both family members and genealogical research.

Cemeteries can only be relocated under a court order through the Virginia Department of Historic Resources’ burial permit process. The county has not yet been notified of any such plans for  any of the Thoroughfare cemeteries, according to Patton.

Washington has said that descendants are troubled about restrictions that could cut off future burials in what they consider a “community cemetery.”

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In the small graveyard known as the Fletcher-Allen cemetery, Frank Washington’s cousin Mary was buried just a few months ago. The field that stretches out behind the graveyard has some surveyor’s flags dotting the area.

Photo by Robin Earl

A third burial site, the Fletcher-Allen graveyard is located on the other side of a grove of trees from the Peyton Cemetery. It has been used by local families since before the Civil War. Washington’s cousin Mary was buried there a few months ago.