Cranford Family Cemetery

Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax Genealogical Society website:

CRANFORD FAMILY CEMETERY
Now on the grounds of the Lower Potomac Pollution Control Plant
Lorton, Virginia USA

Original Information from Volume 5 of the Gravestone Books

The Cranford Family Cemetery was once a part of the estate “Indian Spring Farm” on Gunston Road (Route 242), east of Richmond Highway (Route 1). The cemetery stands on a small, wooded hill which is now on the grounds of the Lower Potomac Pollution Control Plant. The site is to the east of (behind) the house at 9621 Richmond Highway and adjacent to the ball park on Route 1. The cemetery cannot be seen from the ball park due to a high grass-covered berm which was constructed outside the park’s chain link fence as part of a 600-foot buffer between the cemetery and the pollution control plant.

The old John Cranford house called “Oak Grove” was still standing near the cemetery in 1990, but has since been demolished. In 1957, the surveyor, a Cranford family member, stated that the house was about 125 years old. “[I]t is abandoned, and in poor condition, yet it has possibilities. . . . The view is magnificent, and there are some old oak trees shading the yard, as well as some old lilacs, and other shrubs. The deed, obtained by John S. Beach, to the cemetery, is recorded at Fairfax C.H. It gives the right of way to the cemetery, though this privilege, though recorded, seems to have been ignored. The old road seems to have been done away with, and bull-dozers are working all around the cemetery. . . .”

The cemetery may be accessed with permission from the offices at the pollution control plant at 9399 Richmond Highway. A crude roadway can be discerned between the berm and the park’s chain link fence, but in 1998, this road did not appear to be serviceable. To access the cemetery, proceed from the gates in the park fence along the berm toward the hill to the southwest.

A 60-foot-square chain link fence encloses the small cemetery. An ancient beech tree and a large oak stand inside the fence with seven gravestones, a few footstones and a large black obelisk. According to Jack Cranford who accompanied the 1998 surveyor, there are about 55 burials in the cemetery, some of which lie outside the fence. Information about possible unmarked burials is on file in the Virginia Room of the Fairfax City Regional Library. The cemetery was surveyed 1923, 1957, 1974, 1994, and 1998.

No Updates from Volume 6 of the Gravestone Books