- Douglas Memorial Cemetery
- Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery
- Trinity United Methodist Cemetery
- Black Baptist Cemetery
- Alexandria National Cemetery
- Methodist Protestant Church Cemetery
- Presbyterian Cemetery
- Union Cemetery of the Washington Street United Methodist Church
- Agudas Achim Cemeteryt
- Penny Hill Cemetery
- Home of Peace Cemetery
- St. Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery
- Bethel Cemetery
Map of the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex.
More Cemeteries
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Beginning in 1804, local churches were forced to look beyond the Alexandria boundaries for new cemetery locations. As mentioned earlier, the Alexandria Commmon Council decreed in that year that no new cemeteries were to be opened or burial lots to be sold within Alexandria.
Local churches and later, burial associations, settled on the area then known as Spring Garden Farm, bounded by Duke Street, South Henry Street and Hunting Creek. Penny Hill already existed as a municipal cemetery in this area since 1795. Since then, the number of cemeteries in the area has grown to 13. Some are abandoned and maintained by the City of Alexandria, but most are still active.
For the most part, the land for these cemeteries had not been taken for other uses and the cemeteries remain more intact than in central Old Town. Consequently, we can look at 200 years of how a wide variety of Alexandrians have arranged cemeteries and marked graves. Austere Colonial-era headstones gave way to stones bearing a variety of carvings with religious or fraternal meaning. Tall obelisks and life-size statues of angels appeared in the mid- and late 19th century, then gave way to the smaller, more uniform headstones of the 20th century.
In addition to the cemeteries listed below, there may have been two other cemeteries in this area. The Alexandria Gazette in 1861 refers to the Union Cemetery of the Washington Street Methodist Church and to the Protestant Episcopal Cemetery. It is possible that some of the gravesites were absorbed in existing cemeteries.
1. Douglas Memorial CemeteryThe cemetery, established in 1895, was named for abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The cemetery is abandoned and is maintained by the City of Alexandria. The eastern half of the cemetery shows a pattern of burials in sequence of when people died. The other half indicates a practice of relatives being buried together.
2. Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery
This cemetery was founded in 1808 and is still active. A large number of obelisks, popular in the mid-1800s, are present here. The obelisk drew its symbolism from ancient Egypt and reflected an association with eternal life. Some researchers also believe this form of monument stone was a conscious display of wealth and power. By comparing these stones with stones in the adjacent Douglass and Trinity United Methodist Cemetery, one can see differences in the relative social and economic standing of the three congregations. This cemetery also has examples of stones with a colonial profile dating to the early 1800s, and features work by local stonecarvers William Chauncey and Charles Lloyd Neale.
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3. Trinity United Methodist Cemetery
Founded in 1808, this cemetery displays an array of tombstone carvings, including the book and curtain motif and clasped hands, anchors, Bibles, wreaths and doves, associated with a religious revival.
This is the oldest known and intact African American cemetery in Old Town and today is included within the Alexandria African American Heritage Park. Archival searches found documentary records of deeds and the formation of a cemetery association, the Silver Leaf (Colored) Society of Alexandria. The cemetery dates from 1885, but there is evidence of burials at this site prior to the Civil War. Landfill operations at this site in the 1950s and 1960s changed the topography. Many clam and oyster shells were found buried with the fill, as were favored in African American traditions. None of the burials in this cemetery have been excavated; the graves were identified, recorded as to location, and preserved. The present park setting displays six headstones that are reset as close as possible to the associated graves. Also on site is the Jerome Meadows sculpture to commemorate notable African American leaders, institutions, and those buried in the cemetery.
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5. Alexandria National Cemetery
This is one of the oldest national cemeteries in the nation, if not the oldest, based on 1862 Congressional legislation. During the Civil War, there was a great need for a military cemetery in Alexandria. Many soldiers died in battles nearby and thousands died in Alexandria’s Union hospitals. There were 26 such hospitals in Alexandria. Many soldiers buried in this cemetery died of disease or wounds rather than on the battlefield. There are 3,533 Civil War veterans buried here, including 123 unknown soldiers and 229 African Americans who were members of the United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.). The U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs Database lists the names of those interred. All the Civil War veterans buried here are Northern. Thirty-nine Southerners were originally interred here, and then later were moved to Old Town Christ Church Cemetery in 1879. The original wooden headboards were replaced by marble headstones in 1876. A red stone lodge near the gate is apparently the third to stand on this location. A small stone monument across the road from the lodge commemorates four soldiers who died in 1865 chasing John Wilkes Booth.
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6. Methodist Protestant Church Cemetery
This cemetery was founded in 1829 and is now abandoned. Due to its state of disrepair, it is very difficult to associate a particular headstone with a specific grave. Within this cemetery, one can find headstone carvings that denote fraternal associations, especially the Improved Order of Red Men. The Red Men took their trappings from an idealized concept of Native Americans.
This cemetery,founded in 1809, is still active. The cemetery is affiliated with the Old Presbyterian Meeting House at 321 South Fairfax Street, which was founded in 1772. One of the most imposing grave markers, a shroud over the top of an obelisk belongs to Dr. William Harper, a Presbyterian elder. An unusual skull and bone carving marks the graves of the Pascoe family children.
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8. Union Cemetery of the Washington Street United Methodist Church
Begun in 1860, this cemetery is still active. Several land transactions have changed the size and shape of this cemetery.
This is the cemetery of Agudas Achim congregation, formed in Alexandria by Orthodox Jews who had migrated from Eastern Europe (and now a Conservative congregation). Part of the adjoining Penny Hill Cemetery was deeded to the City by the congregation in 1933. This cemetery is the newest one at the Wilkes Street complex and is quite uniform in appearance. Agudas Achim's cemetery is still active.
This was established in 1795 by request of the Alexandria Council as a general burying ground. Eleven widely-scattered grave stones have been identified but are difficult to find among vines and weeds.
Home of Peace is the earliest Jewish cemetery in Alexandria, which has had a Jewish population since the 1830s. In 1857, a Hebrew Benevolent Society was established to provide for a burying ground. Several parcels of adjoining land were added to enlarge the cemetery. Two Alexandria mayors are buried here.
12. St. Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery
This cemetery was formed in 1809. One of its most notable graves is that of the “Female Stranger.” Various local legends tell of a mysterious couple arriving by ship in Alexandria. The woman fell ill and died, and the romanticized inscription on her table stone sheds no light as to their identities.
This was founded in 1885 by the Bethel Cemetery Company. By 1980, nearly 11,000 burial permits had been issued. It remains active. Gravestones here are more uniform, with less size and ornamentation.
