Updated: Grave Sites Identified, More Public Comment Sought

Updated 11:15 a.m. 

Prince William County officials have chimed in about the grave site situation at the site of the county’s soon-to-be-built 12th high school.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart and Coles District Supervisor Marty Nohe, where the new school will be located, plan to propose a new policy that would raise awareness of graves found on land where public facilities will be built.

More in a press release:

We both know that our community cherishes our rich history and that respect for cemeteries is one of our community values. Indeed, Supervisor Nohe and I both own properties on which grave sites are located, and as such, are particularly sensitive to the importance of being a good steward of historic burial sites,” said Chairman Corey Stewart.

We both strongly believe that gravesites should be preserved and protected whenever possible and that they should only be relocated when all other alternatives have been exhausted and it is determined that there are no other viable options. After lengthy conversations with staff from both the County’s Planning office and from the school system, we believe that school officials did exhaust all other options in their determination that the move of the grave sites was in fact necessary.

Updated 11 a.m.

About 13 graves at the site of Prince William County’s 12th high school site are believed to belong to descendants of the Lynn family who owned the property between the Civil War and the early 1900s.

Work completed by volunteers at the RELIC Center at Bull Run Regional Library uncovered this information this past weekend. A volunteer with RELIC used GPS mapping software to research early property deeds in the area.

Family member Carolyn Lynn incidentally publishes a blog about genealogy in Prince William County and has been in touch with the RELIC Center following the discovery, said center Director Don Wilson.

There are many Lynns that still live in the area, said Wilson. Potomac Local News is attempting to contact members of the Lynn family for comment.

The discovery was made after pressure from the public was placed onto the RELIC Center to identify the owner of the grave sites.

“It’s a very detailed process to learn the owner of the graves,” said Wilson. “When you go back and look at the deeds, the property lines changed all the time, whenever someone sold a piece of property, so you have to pay close attention or else the work can get very confusing.”

Wilson, since the graves were uncovered this summer, has worked with a private archaeology firm hired by the school division, but the discovery of the graves’ owners was completed by the RELIC Center, he notes.

Prince William County schools spokeswoman Irene Cromer says she is not aware of any contact between the Lynn family and the school division concerning the grave sites.

10 a.m. 

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — We may soon know who is buried at the site of Prince William County’s soon-to-be-built 12th high school.

Prince William County Historical Commission member and Cemetery Committee Chairman Bill Olson said he’s been in contact with members of a family whose descendants believe have family buried at the site near the intersection of Va. 234 and Hoadly Road . Olson on Monday morning declined to reveal the family’s name, but said that information could soon be forthcoming.

The county school system last week began the process of exhuming 13 possible graves sites found this summer at the high school site. The new school could also become home to a hotly debated, taxpayer funded, $10.5 million aquatics and swim facility.

David Cline, Associate Superintendent for Prince William County Public Schools, issued a statement on Friday noting the school division is taking the necessary steps to carefully excavate any remains that might be found in the graves, survey them, and return them to the ground in another location “in the most respectful and appropriate manner.”

The school division said they were not aware of the remains until this summer. A survey of the site was conducted in 2008, however, heavy vegetation at the site of the graves prevented it from being examined fully by the firm contracted to do the work, Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc. (WSSI), stated Cline.

Survey crews cutting transects along the property of the high school site discovered the graves in July, added Cline.

“Although research conducted in 2008 and 2013 identified the names of a number of property owners, no mention of a cemetery was ever found. The grave markers consisted of natural stones and boulders and did not contain names or dates,” he stated.

Olson met with school and county officials in August to discuss the newly located grave sites, and that’s when he learned the graves were located on what is to become the site of the school’s football stadium.

“This was not a sit-down meeting, this was a stand-up meeting. In fact, I didn’t even get the calling cards of the participants,” said Olson. “It was very clearly understood at that time there would have to be a public notice of opportunity for a hearing or a meeting published, and also there would have to be a permit issued by the Virginia State Department of Historic Resources,” said Olson.

The school division paid for the publication of a public notice about the planned graves exhumation and relocation inside the pages of the Washington Post newspaper on Sept. 9, due to its “wide circulation in the local area,” stated Cline.

While no human remains have been found at the site so far, wood from coffins as well as nails have been located, said Olson, and he says a public hearing should have been held before the exhumation process began.

Wood has also urged the school division to leave the graves untouched and build around them as they have on other school sites in Prince William County, including C.D. Hylton and Potomac high schools.

Cline says the school division is moving as fast as it can to deliver a much-needed new high school by 2016.

The situation has also garnered the attention of locally elected officials, Delegates Richard Anderson and Scott Lingamfelter, who stated in a letter to School Board Chairman Milton C. Johns more public comment should have been received prior to the exhumation process.

“Although the letter of the law may have been followed, we believe that this circumstance warrants further examination so that we may proceed prudently with the Board’s construction plans [for the new high school], the letter stated.