After Prince William County Cemetery Site Lawsuit Dismissed, Appeal Sought

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — After a lawsuit fighting alleged disturbances to African American and Native American cemeteries in western Prince William County was dismissed, an appeal is being filed.

The Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare, which claimed there were disturbances to African American and Native American cemeteries in the Thoroughfare community, filed the lawsuit and new appeal. The lawsuit was against Prince William County and The Farm Brewery at Broad Run owner International Investments LLC.

The lawsuit was moved to federal court in November 2024. However, a U.S. District Court judge in Virginia denied a preliminary injunction to stop all movement on the site and dismissed the case. As reported by Inside Nova, the federal judge did not believe the plaintiff provided enough evidence that a cemetery was on the site.

Developers had purchased land that the coalition says contains the three major Thoroughfare cemeteries. The coalition claims the developers destroyed the Scott Cemetery, blocked access to the Potters Field Cemetery, and threatened the Fields/Allen Cemetery with development.

According to the coalition, Thoroughfare is an historic Native American and African American community in the Broad Run area of Prince William County. African Americans began to settle during the 1800s, joining Native Americans already established there. The coalition says descendants of Thoroughfare's freed slaves and Native Americans still live there.

“Slaves, freed slaves, freedmen/freedwomen, and Native-Americans who worked and lived on the land of Thoroughfare, Va., are under the threat of having their final sacred resting places decimated or completely removed by encroaching developers," said Frank Washington, founder of the Family members are also being denied access to many of these graves as well as having their burial rights in their private cemeteries stripped from them by the County. No longer allowed to rest beside their loved ones as they have for hundreds of years.

According to a previous Prince William Times report, the Farm Brewery at Broad Run owners had asked for the case to be dismissed and said the coalition couldn't legally sue. The brewery owners previously told Inside Nova in a statement that archaeological studies did not show any signs that the Scott Cemetery existed.

In 2021, Prince William County bought two acres to protect from development and is planning a public park. The county says the land contains the Potters Field/Peyton Thoroughfare Community Cemetery. However, the coalition says the county removed descendants' burial rights at the site near their ancestors.