Wren-Darne Family Cemetery in Virginia

About

Intersection of Hillsman Street and Martha's Lane in the Falls Church area of the county.
Fairfax County, Virginia, USA

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Cemetery ID:

Members have Contributed

5 Memorials
80% photographed
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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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"Long View," the family home of Col. James Wren, was built circa 1770, utilizing bricks which were left after The Falls Church was completed in 1769, according to a 1969 Historic American Buildings Survey. Col. Wren designed The Falls Church and oversaw its construction. He was also the architect for Christ Church in Alexandria, Pohick Church and the Fairfax County Courthouse.

Col. Wren is said to have retired to this home and died there in 1815. In the fall of 1969, the D.A.R. placed a marker on the house and the survey reports that they planned to mark Col. Wren's grave, which was said to be at the rear of the property in the family plot.

In "Falls Church by Fence and Fireside," author Melvin Steadman reports that gravestones stood in the family cemetery as late as 1949, but they were gone by 1964. The cemetery fell in to disrepair.
(This description of the cemetery was written by Judi McGarvey and published in volume III of "Fairfax County, Virginia Gravestones.")

An article of the July 15, 2018 Washington Post describes the restoration of the Wren/Darne Family Cemetery by Pete Greene who lives near the site. He has installed four plaques honoring members of the Wren and Darne families -- Col. James Wren, John Wren, Robert Darne and John Darne. These men served in three wars -- the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. According to Greene's research, nineteen members of these families are most likely buried in this family cemetery.