Coleman Cemetery

Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax Genealogical Society website:

COLEMAN CEMETERY
1900 Collingwood Road (Route 628)
South Alexandria, Virginia USA

Original Information from Volume 5 of the Gravestone Books

Coleman Cemetery is located at 1900 Collingwood Road (Route 628) on the north side of the street. This community cemetery is in a residential neighborhood, south of the Hollin Hall area and east of Gum Springs, adjacent to the Snowden & Bethlehem Cemetery which lies on the western edge of Coleman Cemetery.

According to Cemeteries of Fairfax County, Virginia by Brian A. Conley, the Churches and Fraternities Association of Alexand-ria purchased this property on 27 October 1944 (Deed Book 444:RD264). Most of the marked graves date from the 1960s to the present. A granite marker at the covered enclosure in the middle of the cemetery reads:

FOUNDERS OF COLEMAN CEMETERY

Robert H. Butler
Father A. M. Cochran
Willie Dickerson
Mary C. Gaddis
Clinton Jackson
Rev. S. B. Ross
Rev. R. B. Strong
George Turner
Ella Washington
W. F. Watson
Rev. J. G. West
Dedicated July 12, 1975


The cemetery is fenced along the back and on the east side. There is no fence at the front of the cemetery, although fence posts stand along Collingwood Road. Two signs along the road identify the site as Coleman Cemetery.

The area appears to be periodically mowed, but many of the gravestones are in need of repair and maintenance. The ground is very uneven in many places and surveyors noted evidence of poor drainage. Many gravestones are tilting and sinking into the ground. Many are partially covered by dirt or have tilted so far as to topple off their bases. Surveyors were unable to read the entire inscription on some of these markers. Surveyors also noted evidence of many unmarked graves. Large piles of dirt and some trash were seen at the site.

There is no cemetery office on the grounds of the cemetery. In the spring of 1998, one surveyor saw flower arrangements left near the enclosure in the center of the cemetery rather than being placed on graves.

Members of the Fairfax Genealogical Society surveyed the cemetery in the spring of 1998. The gravestones were reread by surveyors in June 1998. Members of the Mount Vernon Genealogical Society also surveyed Coleman Cemetery during the summer of 1998. The two surveys were compared and all discrepancies were rechecked.

The cemetery is divided into three sections or areas by narrow circular roads. The survey begins in the front section, near Collingwood Road, with the gravestone in the northeast corner of the section. Surveyors read the markers row by row, making a U-turn at the end of each row and walking back again.

The survey continues with the gravestones under the cedar tree which stands directly across the road from the covered area.

The survey continues with the gravestones in the middle section of the cemetery. The first gravestone stands near the concrete block structure in the southeast corner of this section.

The survey continues with the gravestones in the back section, beginning with the gravestones along the eastern edge of the cemetery.

During the June 1998 survey, researchers noted several granite gravestones piled behind the concrete block storage structure. They returned in July 1998 and cut back the weeds and brambles covering these grave markers and recorded the following inscriptions:

Willie Earl Murchison
“Beloved son” 3 Jun 1959 26 Apr 1984
Willie James Mills
“Gone but not forgotten” 24 Sep 1936 27 Apr 1985
Charles P. Smith 1918 1986
Deloyd Burrus 1943 1990
Ralph C. Lawrence 3 May 1904 14 Aug 1984
Brenda D. Lawrence 1 Mar 1905 4 Apr 1985
William Curris (sic) Young 29 Aug 1934 4 May 1989
Thurmon O. Blackmon 14 Dec 1923 1 Jan 1985
Lucy P. Blackmon 9 Aug 1924 6 May 1984

Update/Corrections/Additions from Volume 6 of the Gravestone Books

COLEMAN CEMETERY - UPDATE
Society member David McGarvey came across information regarding burials in Coleman Cemetery while searching the USGenWeb homepage for Arlington County, Virginia. The information is based on Graveyards of Arlington County Virginia, compiled by the Arlington Genealogy Club. We consulted this source and learned the following.

The Odd Fellows Cemetery established by the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, Stevens Lodge No. 1435, stood on nearly two acres near the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Columbia Pike in Arlington. It was founded in 1870 by twelve African-Americans, some of whom were former slaves. The last burial in the cemetery was in 1959. By 1964, the site, which had been a “familiar landmark” at the intersection, had become an eyesore because the surviving lodge members were unable to maintain the cemetery and unable to pay for its maintenance.

The site was purchased by a developer who worked out an agreement with the lodge members for the removal and reinterment of the burials. “Identified graves with their markers or stones would be removed to Coleman Cemetery. All other graves identified by an interested party would be moved to Coleman Cemetery and identified with a metal marker. All deceased persons not identified by grave markers or not identified within six months following the agreement would be placed in one large section of Coleman Cemetery and identified as ‘Unidentified and Unknown Persons Removed From the Graveyard of Stevens Lodge #1435 of the Odd Fellows of Alexandria, Arlington County, Va.’ Those persons desiring removals of family members to locations other than Coleman Cemetery were properly compensated.” Some burials were moved to Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Annandale and Lincoln Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland. Graveyards of Arlington County Virginia reports that of the over 700 people who were buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, only 164 were identified. The book lists those identified by grave markers and those reported by family members, as well as the names of those who were removed to Lincoln and Pleasant Valley. A Sheraton Hotel stands at the site today.

Graveyards also reports removals of some graves from Calloway United Methodist Church, 5000 Lee Highway (Route 29), to Coleman Cemetery in the late 1950s or early 1960s, to accommodate the widening of Lee Highway.

Note: Society surveyors who worked in Coleman Cemetery in 1998 recorded few, if any, of the metal markers mentioned in the agreement. They did not find a marker or plaque identifying removals from the Odd Fellows Cemetery.