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Tom Teele (left) and Jon Parrish of Kline Memorials in Manassas lower a granite marker into the Daniel family cemetery
The Daniel family marker is carefully set into an existing brick wall in the graveyard at Crow's Nest.
Tom Teele (left) and Jon Parrish of Kline Memorials of Manassas guide a 350-pound, 3- by 6-foot marker into place on a brick wall inset with former headstones. The granite slab tells of the Daniel family at Crow's Nest in Stafford County prior to and during the Civil War. |
AS STAFFORD COUNTY grows with new homes and businesses, a nearly 4,000-acre peninsula along its eastern shore remains virtually un-touched.
That was until yesterday when a large truck, weighted down with a hoist, slowly chugged along a rutted path leading to the heart of this environmental jewel known as Crow's Nest.
The truck wasn't coming to cut roads or clear the land nestled between Potomac and Accokeek creeks.
It was carrying a 300-pound granite headstone to a tiny 19th- century cemetery tucked beneath a canopy of trees.
But the new stone doesn't just pay homage to a loved one.
"This stone tells the story of the people who lived here," said Travers Daniel, a descendant of Rawleigh Travers, the first owner of Crow's Nest.
Chiseled into the rock is a history of the land and its notable residents such as Hannah Ball, aunt of President George Washington, and Mildred Stone, whose father signed the Declaration of Independence.
The new stone now stands next to two other marble slabs that have been impressed upon a brick wall.
Daniel, his father, Raleigh, who's 88, and other relatives researched the family's background and the history of Crow's Nest over the past year.
It was near Crow's Nest in 1607 that famed English Capt. John Smith paid a visit to Indian Point, which lies just across the creek from the peninsula.
Six years later, Pocahontas was kidnapped near there and held for ransom by Capt. Samuel Argall.
By the late 18th and early 19th century, the Crow's Nest area was largely self-sustaining, boasting a tanner, a blacksmith and a cobbler.
Residents raised a variety of goods, which were shipped back to England.
The land got its name from a black, three-masted schooner known as "The Crow" that was harbored there in the mid-1800s.
But during the Civil War, the peninsula was pretty much obliterated by Union troops.
If its history weren't enough, Crow's Nest is also an ecological marvel.
It boasts a variety of rare plant species and is home to a large blue heron rookery and bald eagle nests.
But this all could change if the land's current owner, K&M Properties in McLean, develops the property.
"Preserving this site is the best thing that could happen," Daniel said.
The Crow's Nest Trust was established in January to do just that.
The nonprofit group hopes to raise about $200,000 annually to maintain the property.
If the trust members--made up of area residents and Stafford County officials--can raise the money, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will try to get money from Congress to buy the land and add it to the national refuge system.
Then it could be opened to the public on a regular basis. Now, the private property is open only to special tours.
Donations to the trust are steadily growing.
"We've gotten a lot of public support," said John D. Mitchell, a local businessman and the chairman of the trust.
In April, Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted to give the trust $100,000 to save the land. It also hired Washington lobbyist Joann Payne to work with the landowner, Congress and the Bush administration.
But the tract's future remains in limbo. To date, no action has been taken by the government on the site.
So, for now, Crow's Nest sits like an island amid a turbulent sea of development.
It's a thought that makes Mitchell anxious. "We're just eager to put this thing to bed."
