Fairfax County is seeking community input to help preserve the Peake Family Cemetery, a historically significant burial site in Hybla Valley’s Gum Springs neighborhood.
The Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) will begin restoration efforts this spring as part of its initiative to protect historic cemeteries across the county.
According to a county press release, archaeologists trained in cemetery conservation will oversee the project, ensuring minimal ground disturbance aside from resetting headstones. Planned work includes cleaning and repairing gravestones, addressing landscaping concerns and using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to identify unmarked burials.
The park authority is asking the public and historical organizations to contribute records, photographs and family histories related to the cemetery. The materials will help archaeologists identify unmarked graves and update interpretive signage later this year.
Community members can submit historical materials through the Peake Family Cemetery project website.
Located in the southeast corner of the Gum Springs Community Center property at 8115 Fordson Road, the Peake Family Cemetery may contain the resting places of some families notable to the history of Gum Springs, including the Fords, according to the FCPA.
West Ford, who was enslaved at Mount Vernon but later freed, founded Gum Springs in 1833, making it one of Fairfax County’s oldest Black communities. The county launched a heritage resources study last year to identify ways to preserve the neighborhood while also planning for its future.
The land where the cemetery is located was owned by the Peake family from the early 1700s until it was acquired by Ford, whose descendants maintained ownership until 1967. After about a decade of development, including the adjacent Martin Luther King Jr. Park, the cemetery was conveyed to the park authority in 1976.
According to an FCPA presentation, a walk-through survey determined that the cemetery contains 13 grave markers for 14 burials, including one marker for a mother and her infant, as well as “21 grave-like depressions.”
“[The] cemetery landscape is well maintained,” the presentation says. “However, headstones require conservation care.”
The Peake Family Cemetery restoration is part of a countywide effort to document and preserve historic burial sites. Since the 1970s, Fairfax County has recorded over 350 cemeteries and continues to update records using GIS mapping, LiDAR scanning and historical research.
Many small family cemeteries, particularly those tied to marginalized groups, have been difficult to locate and study. Officials say combining historical records with ground-penetrating radar will help identify unmarked graves and provide a clearer picture of the cemetery’s history, ensuring the stories are preserved and accessible to the public.
