Second Baptist Church Cemetery

Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax County African American History Inventory:

Second Baptist church was organized in 1871 by formerly enslaved and free Blacks. The Rev. George W. Powell was the guiding force behind construction. He became minister of the congregation in 1900. Construction began in 1921 but it progressed slowly until members took a $4,000 loan from the nearby Methodist church. Powell and five Baptist families took out mortgages on their own homes to secure the loan. Fund-raising activities allowed the congregation to pay off the loan within three years. In 1929 they burned the mortgage and placed the ashes in the church vault.

The cemetery, located behind the church, is the resting place of many prominent Black residents of Falls Church including James Lee and Francis Forrest Foote. Cemetery is FX136 in Fairfax County cemetery survey. The cemetery was enlarged in the late 1920s.

Reportedly there also may be an associated black cemetery.