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All the United States Virginia Fairfax Thompson Family Cemetery

Thompson Family Cemetery

A graveyard that dates back over 200 years stands near a busy shopping center.

Fairfax, Virginia

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One face of the Tobin monument   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
Amistead Thompson Marker   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
Closeup of Amistead Thompson text   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
Closeup of Amana Tobin’s information   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
View of the cemetary   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
(2019)   exploringwithesch / Atlas Obscura User
Back of Amistead Thompson marker   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
Closeup of John Tobin text   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
Amistead Thompson text   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
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John Tobin side of the Tobin monument   hasufin / Atlas Obscura User
(2019)   exploringwithesch / Atlas Obscura User
Rear shot of the tombstones. (2019)   exploringwithesch / Atlas Obscura User
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Lee Highway is a busy road in northern Virginia. With traffic from commuters passing by and going in and out of the Pan Am Shopping Center in Fairfax, it's easy to miss the gravestones on a small hill overlooking the parking lot.

The small cemetery predates the shopping center by nearly two centuries. Though its first burial was in 1792, it wasn't officially designated as a cemetery until nearly a century later, when Lawrence Turner Thompson's will made it official in 1886. The most notable occupant of the cemetery, Armistead Thompson, was a schoolteacher who fought for the Confederate Army and died as a prisoner of war in 1864. Members of the Thompson family were buried there at least through 1915, when Laura Virginia Tobin was buried. Their descendants continue to care for the site.

In 1979, the cemetery was almost destroyed when the road was widened. But after Alfred Thompson was arrested for stopping the excavators with a sledgehammer in hand, the cemetery's fate was up to the courts. A judge ruled in Thompson's favor, and the graves were preserved. Today the graves are well-maintained, and though at least nine family members are buried there, only two markers remain.

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Cemeteries Graveyards

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The cemetery stands on a rise in the western part of the shopping center's parking lot. There are no paths directly to the cemetery, but the easiest approach is from the sidewalk on the northern boundary of the shopping center.

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hasufin

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exploringwithesch

  • exploringwithesch

Published

April 1, 2020

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  • https://www.honorfairfaxcemeteries.org/thompson-family-cemetery/
  • https://www.flickr.com/photos/fccpa-va/sets/72157624862851829/
  • https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library_cemeteries/Cemetery.aspx?number=FX014
  • https://www.honorfairfaxcemeteries.org/thompson-family-cemetery/
  • https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library_cemeteries/Cemetery.aspx?number=FX014
Thompson Family Cemetery
9133 Lee Hwy
Fairfax, Virginia, 22031
United States
38.872097, -77.261789
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