Date:  June 2011

Image Number:  CG1768

Comments:  The Staples Family Cemetery is located in Albemarle County approximately 7 miles north of Scottsville, Virginia, near Keene.  The cemetery is located on a private farm, Best of What's Around (formerly Church Hill Farm), near the intersection of Coles Rolling and Glendower Roads.  Pictured above is the westward view from the cemetery with the treeline to the west approximating the route of Glendower Road. 

The Staples Family Cemetery sits in a grove of trees surrounded by a wooden fence and contains 28 standing stones and approximately 5 stones that have fallen forward on their faces in the moist cemetery soil.  Buried here are at least four children of Thomas and Ann (Tompkins) Staples of Scottsville, namely, Sarah (wife of D.P. Powers), Olivia (wife of Isaac P. Spencer), Phanuel (wife of William D. Davis), and Silas Staples.  Thomas Staples (1795-1862) once owned much of the land in close proximity of this cemetery and became a leading merchant in Scottsville before his death.  Several years ago a descendant of Thomas Staples reported to the Museum that Thomas was buried in this family cemetery near his wife and children.   It is possible that two of the three large gravestones, which have fallen inscription-side down, are those of Thomas and Ann Staples. Unfortunately, in June 2011, Museum volunteers could not budge these fallen gravestones to confirm that theory.  If any of our readers has an earlier photograph of Thomas' or Ann's gravestone, the Museum would love to hear from you; please contact us via e-mail at [email protected].

We thank the farm manager and staff of Best of What's Around for their support to Scottsville Museum and allowing our volunteers to photograph and record these historic gravestones in the Staples Family Cemetery for research use by all.  Thanks also to Sarah Robinson, a Senior at Tandem Friends School and a talented archaelogist, for her invaluable field work on this project. 

To see photographs of each gravestone, please click on the names in boldface below: