Historic Scott Cemetery in Thoroughfare in limbo

The status of the “Scott Cemetery,” a historic burial ground initially thought to contain an estimated 75 to 100 graves in the Thoroughfare area of western Prince William County, is in limbo after two archaeological investigations found no proof of human burials.

Prince William County officials shared that information Monday, March 14, during a community meeting at the Gainesville Haymarket Library. The meeting was part of a series of actions taken by the county to advance preservation efforts in Thoroughfare, a historic community in Broad Run that was first settled by freed slaves and Native Americans in the 19^th century and remained a thriving, mostly African American community into the 20^th century.

Thoroughfare has been in the news since the spring of 2021, when activists drew attention to what they considered threats to a handful of historic cemeteries on land purchased in recent years by Bill and Michelle DeWitt, owners of the Farm Brewery at Broad Run, and by a local housing developer. 

At that time, it was also discovered that the DeWitts unknowingly cleared land identified on county records as containing the Scott Cemetery. The DeWitts were cited for clearing the land without a permit, but the couple said they were never told the property contained a cemetery.

To the disbelief of about 30 community members at the March 14 meeting, Prince William County Archaeologist Justin Patton explained that consultants hired by the DeWitts who performed the most recent archaeological study of the area found no evidence of human burials at the site. 

Patton acknowledged that the Scott Cemetery had been identified by local historian Ron Turner during the Prince William County Historical Commission’s cemetery survey effort in 2001. Turner said local residents had long known about the cemetery, and that based on its size, about 35 feet by 75 feet, it was estimated to contain between 75 and 100 gravesites that were either unmarked or marked by field stones.

Patton said the county and the DeWitts agreed in June 2021 on a scope of work to have a remote sensing study of the cemetery area completed by September 2021. As part of the investigation, ground-penetrating radar and electrical conductivity tests were performed at the site. Patton reported that the electrical conductivity test was inconclusive because too much metal from past activity on the land was located underground. The ground-penetrating radar test, however, identified 11 “anomalies” that could represent grave shafts.  

In November 2021, the Dewitts informed the county they had hired Commonwealth Heritage Group to further investigate the 11 anomalies. Patton said the DeWitts’ decision to engage the consultants’ services at that time represented a break with the scope of work and timeline they previously set with the county.

In an interview late last fall, Bill DeWitt said he wanted to move forward with the archaeological investigation to find out as soon as possible whether the land contained human graves. 

“The county asked us to wait, and I told the county, ‘No,’” he explained at the time. “I’m a landowner and I have rights.”

Patton said the county received a final report from CHG last month that reported it had investigated the 11 anomalies using a process called “ground truthing” and found no evidence of human burials in the areas tested. 

Patton said he took issue with many of the findings in the report. Patton said that while the 11 anomalies may not have shown signs of human burials, it is not known if the remainder of the area identified as the Scott Cemetery is void of human burials.

Patton also pointed out that soil on the cemetery grounds had been “completely disturbed” by the DeWitts’ actions to clear the land last year, which could have affected the efficacy of the testing and the accuracy of the results of CHG’s ground truthing report.

In a Feb. 8 letter to the DeWitts, Patton wrote: “The results of the remote sensing and excavation of the 11 anomalies were impacted by the trash on the project area, the removal of that trash, the use of heavy equipment (dumpsters and trucks associated with the delivery and removals of dumpsters), and the use of the Forester to clear this parcel of vegetation and possibly the depth of the excavations.”  

In the same letter, Patton asked the DeWitts to refrain from further disturbing or clearing the property.

At the March 14 meeting, Patton said that while he had invited CHG to attend the meeting to discuss their findings, CHG told him that they were not authorized by the DeWitts to do so.

On Tuesday, Bill DeWitt told the Prince William Times that he and his wife chose not to attend the meeting because two studies on their land by professional archaeologists failed to turn up any evidence of a cemetery. “We have been very sensitive to the situation but there are no bodies there, and we are done looking,” he said. 

DeWitt said he and his wife have no plans to excavate, build, or dig in the area previously identified as the Scott Cemetery but hope to create a “Cox Farm-style” corn maze there and to plant sunflowers.  

Patton told community members present at the meeting that he recommended the DeWitts “voluntarily conduct additional investigation,” including researching death records written in family bibles to determine who might have been buried in the Scott Cemetery. 

Rhonda Reese, of Gainesville, expressed the community members’ frustration with both the landowners and the county. 

“The landowners have the county wrapped around their fingers and they can do whatever they want ... Where’s the oversight? You’ve got to have some teeth,” she said.

Prince William County Director of Public Works Tom Smith said the key is to get the boundaries of the Scott Cemetery delineated, but the previous ground disturbances would make that difficult. 

Smith further said Patton had provided the DeWitts with recommendations about what they should be doing to that end. But as far as the county’s ability to require the DeWitts to take specific actions, Smith said, “We’re still talking with our attorneys.”

Frank Washington, a Thoroughfare native and a leader of the Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare, the group that sounded the alarm about the historic cemeteries’ fate last year, said he couldn’t be more frustrated with where things stand now. He said his ancestors’ graves have been “totally destroyed” and “desecrated.” 

Washington said he can’t understand why, just a year ago, the discussions centered on restoring the Scott Cemetery after the land was cleared but now have somehow shifted into a debate about whether the Scott Cemetery ever existed. 

“We knew to begin with that the cemetery did exist. … It should have been a situation of [the DeWitts] being held accountable for the fact that we know there were graves there,” Washington said. “And then the county should have done everything in its power to restore [the cemetery] to the best of its ability. And that still is not happening almost a year and a half later. It still does not happen.”

Reach Cher Muzyk at cmuzyk@gmail.com