For over a year the battle the save the Thoroughfare Historical District was one of perseverance and planning, and now there has been some good news to honor those who are laid to rest.

The Prince William Historic Preservation Foundation was awarded $10,000 in the inaugural Commonwealth History Fund for the Potter’s Field Cemetery Delineation and Restoration project. This project has been funded by a grant from Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s Commonwealth History Fund, supported by Dominion Energy. In the next five years, the Commonwealth History Fund intends to award up to $2 million for the preservation of Virginia’s historic resources, stories, and people.

The Commonwealth History Fund grant will support a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey of the cemetery to determine both the number of burials and delineate the cemetery’s boundaries. After the GPR survey is finalized, a new fence will be installed to better mark the cemetery and the cemetery will be cleaned of any small brush. No gravestones or other markers will be disturbed or damaged in the process of this project.

Thoroughfare, Virginia is a community located in western Prince William County. The core of the community was established after the American Civil War as a predominantly African American community. A strong oral history tradition supports earlier human settlement, including various Native American peoples.

The Potter’s Field cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in Thoroughfare and it is located on a two-acre property recently acquired by Prince William County in the Thoroughfare Historical District. While there are headstones within the cemetery, there are likely many graves that are unmarked.