PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA - CEMETERIES – “Poplar Hill” Home and Cemetery ----¤¤¤---- Source: Library of Virginia Digital Collection LVA Titled Files: Survey Report, Poplar Hill: 1937 July 20 Research made by Susan Rogers Morton Cemetery Location: About 500 feet from the Post Office at Waterfall, Virginia, on Route #601, thence .5 mile on private road. Prince William Co., Virginia DATE: About 1839. OWNERS: Burwells Tylers Foleys Harrisons Whitings William Baker Angie P. Kibler DESCRIPTION: The approach to this old house is most attractive, but impassable in bad weather. The house even in decay is beautiful and there are many fine old trees still surrounding it. The remarkable feature of the place is a large tulip tree, about six hundred feet southwest of the house. This tree is said to be two hundred years old [1937] has a girth of twenty-eight feet, and takes a forty foot span to plough around it. A short distance in the same direction is a quaint log house, built and used as a tenant house. This house has four rooms, a fine stone chimney, and large fireplace. There are several other log buildings on the place, and there is a spring noted for its splendid water about two hundred feet to the southeast of the place. The old spring house is still doing duty. The house was built in the usual style of central hall, with two rooms on each side, and two very large rooms on the second floor. There are chair rails and fireplaces in all the rooms. The fireplaces have stone hearths. The interior while in bad condition, is not beyond restoring, and some of the old hardware and woodwork are available. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This place was originally a part of the Burwell tract. Later it was owned by the Tylers. For over one hundred years it was part of a one thousand acre tract owned by the Foleys. The house and several hundred acres of land belonged to William Foley. Later is was occupied by the Harrisons and Whitings. It was not sold to them but came through dower rights of intermarriage. While there has never been anything of particular historical connected with the place, it represents a typical old home that was an important part of the community in which it was located. The Foleys owned and operated one of the three mills which were in Waterfall, then a prosperous neighborhood. More than one young man left “Poplar Hill” to offer his life for the Confederacy. The house was always noted for its hospitality and its doors open to friends and strangers alike. There are many stories told about the huge old tree here. Its wide spreading shade offered a place for family and neighborhood gatherings, lunches were served there at the local tournaments, itinerant preachers declaimed there, and many a troth was plighte on this spot. About one hundred feet from this tulip tree is the old graveyard, now almost completely hidden by pine and underbrush. It is surrounded by an iron fence, but some graves are outside the enclosure. Over half of the stones contain no inscriptions. Those having inscriptions are recorded below: Catharine Whiting born June 25, 1819 died June 18, 1889 Thomas Fenton Whiting born May 26, 1810 died August 28, 1887 Nancy Whiting born June 19, 1814 died August 28, 1867 John A. Harrison born Sept. 19, 1817 died March 17, 1900 At Rest In memory of Martha wife of John A. Harrison born March 17, 1810 died February 12, 1894 Asleep in Jesus, blessed Sleep, From which none ever wake to weep. SOURCES OF INFORMATION: Informants: Mr. William Gossom, Waterfall, Virginia Miss Flora Smith, Waterfall, Virginia Mrs. Rebecca Ashby, Haymarket, Virginia Prince William County Court Records: Deed Book 92, folio 18 Tombstone Inscriptions Visit by worker. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joan Renfrow NOTICE: I have no relationship or further information in regards to this family. ___________________________________________________________________