OVERVIEW OF ARNON CEMETERY

646 Walker Road, Great Falls, Virginia 22066

Arnon Cemetery was formed about 1891 when Arnon Chapel purchased the cemetery property for the purpose of creating a burial ground to be named Arnon Cemetery.  (Arnon is the name of a Biblical river located in Jordan now called Wadi el Mujib.)  After Arnon Chapel merged with the Salem Methodist Church the care, obligations and ownership of the cemetery remained in the hands of the original trustees.  New trustees were added as some passed away or were otherwise unable to continue service.  The cemetery is a little over two acres and has about 1100 occupied graves, 200 empty gravesites and about 120 urn sites. This is a non-profit, non-sectarian community cemetery open to all Great Falls residents, pending availability of sites.

The cemetery embraces the graves of a number of old Great Falls families including  Walker, Goode, Follin, Poole, Turner, Grimes, Cummins, Tucker, Franks, McCutchan, Thomas, Presgrave, Jackson, Jenkins, Trammell, Darnes, Butler, Burgess, Utterback, Dickey, Cornwell, Oliver, Henderson, Gardner, Dunnington, Bradford.  The earliest recorded burial was of an infant, Claudius Sanders, born 1874, died and buried 1876.  The earliest recorded birth was Emily Darnes, born 1809, died and buried 1898.  There are graves of more than thirty military  personnel who served in the Civil War (both North and South), Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War.

To formalize the legal status of the cemetery several Great Falls citizens, who have family members buried in the cemetery, petitioned the Fairfax County Circuit Court for Arnon Cemetery Association ownership, which was granted in July, 2014. Since then trustees have been overseeing burials, maintenance, repairs, improvements and record keeping for the Cemetery.  All trustees are unpaid.

If anyone has suggestions, comments, or would like to donate time, talent or funds to any of these projects, please mail the trustees at Arnon Cemetery Association, PO Box 617, Great Falls, Virginia, 22066, or email at arnoncemetery (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Updated Oct. 17, 2022