Joint With Chairman McKay

BACKGROUND:
The Carter Family Cemetery in Vienna, Virginia represents the remnants of a thriving Black community at Freedom Hill near Tysons Corner. The Carters of Freedom Hill were and are a multi-racial family with roots reaching back to the indigenous Tauxenent people of Fairfax County. The Carter family matriarch, Keziah Carter purchased 50 acres of land in 1842 upon which her family lived and farmed for decades. This area became known as Cartersville and Freedom Hill. Today, those fifty acres make up the Carter’s Green subdivision, portions of Raglan Road Park and the Tysons Towers Senior Apartment Community.

During the development of the Carter’s Green subdivision in the 1970s, a lot containing a family cemetery was retained by the developer but not maintained. The cemetery is directly adjacent to current Raglan Road Park which was also ancestral Carter land. The lot includes a headstone for Millie Carter Whales, and records found to date indicate at least four additional burials in the cemetery. In recent years the Carter Family Cemetery has suffered from vandalism and dumping of landscaping waste. The immediate neighbor has also expressed safety concerns over a mature tree overhanging their property. Carter descendants remain in the area and continue to have a vested interest in the final resting places of their ancestors. They approached county staff for assistance in preserving and protecting the cemetery property that has been abandoned.

MOTION:
Therefore, I move that the Board direct staff to investigate options for addressing safety concerns and long-term stewardship of the Carter Family Cemetery property.