A historical marker now stands in McLean’s Clemyjontri Park as a monument to the site’s past as a center of social and spiritual activity for the local Black community.
Fairfax County officials, historians, students and present-day community leaders unveiled the marker commemorating Gunnell’s Chapel and its founder, Robert Gunnell, at a dedication ceremony last Saturday (Sept. 21).
Located “just steps” from the historical chapel building, the plaque is the second one to be installed as part of the county’s Black and African American Historical Marker Project, an initiative that the Board of Supervisors launched in 2021 to encourage a more inclusive understanding of Fairfax County’s history, according to a county press release.
“This particular project is meant to make sure that we are telling our full and complete history, because the way for us to focus on equity and to do better is always to make sure we know what our past is and how we can learn from that and improve,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said in a video produced by the county about the unveiling ceremony.
To identify possible options for new markers, the county’s Department of Neighborhood and Community Services partnered with the Fairfax County History Commission and Fairfax County Public Schools to invite students to nominate people, events and locations that hold historical significance for the local African American community.
The 53 nominations that the county received in 2022 were narrowed down to 14 finalists by a committee that included county supervisor appointees, representatives from community organizations and Fairfax County Public Schools student equity leads. The six sites chosen for historical markers were announced by Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, whose office proposed the initiative, that September.
The first marker was unveiled in June outside Oakton High School, recognizing civil rights activist Lillian Blackwell for her work challenging segregation in FCPS and movie theaters.
Nominated by fourth and fifth-grade students from Haycock Elementary School, the Gunnell’s Chapel marker stands on land that Gunnell and his wife donated to the Methodist Episcopal Church at Langley, leading to the chapel’s establishment in 1879.
Born in 1795, Gunnell gained freedom from slavery in 1851 and acquired 6.5 acres of land in McLean’s Langley area that he worked as a farmer, according to the marker. An avid supporter of education for African American students, he also hosted religious meetings at his home despite repeated attacks “by a local ‘gang of ruffians.'”
Gunnell, who died in 1890, deeded his land to the Methodist Episcopal Church, which built the one-room chapel that also served as a schoolhouse for Black students, according to George Mason University.
“This building served as a religious and communal hub for the local African American Methodist community well into the latter half of the 20th century,” Fairfax County said in its news release.
Noa Herzog and Carys Barnes, two of the students who nominated the site for a historical marker, told the county that they felt it was important to raise awareness of Gunnell’s Chapel and other stories that might not be well-known.
“I know that Black people didn’t get a lot of opportunities to worship and have a good education, so we wanted to share this with the world,” Noa said.
The other winning entries in the historical marker contest were:
- Annie Harper, a Gum Springs resident who was part of a lawsuit against the Virginia Board of Elections that led the Supreme Court to declare poll taxes unconstitutional
- General Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State who attended St. John’s Episcopal Church in McLean
- Louise Archer, the first principal of the originally all-Black elementary school in Vienna
- The West Springfield “16,” individuals who were enslaved on the Ravensworth plantation that included the current West Springfield High School property
