Restoration and Repair of Historic Cemetery Wall

Through this grant, Loudoun Preservation Society supported the repair and restoration of portions of the south cemetery stone wall of this historically significant church cemetery.

Historic Mt. Zion Church of Aldie was built in 1851, and listed on the state and federal registries of Historical Places. The cemetery is one-acre in size and is divided into two parts, an enclosed stone wall area and a second area with the south wall in-common. The original trustees, John Wood, Clint Saffer, Wynne Saffer and Claude “Brad” Bradshaw, donated Mt. Zion Church, cemetery and its seven acres to Loudoun County. The County Board of Supervisors did not want an active cemetery to manage so surveyed and set aside the one-acre cemetery. It was organizedas a separate 501(c)13 non-profit cemetery organization.

Mt. Zion Church and Cemetery are important to the history of Loudoun County and Virginia. The west stone wall borders the Old Carolina Road which first existed as a foot pathway used by Native Americans as they traveled south from what is now known as Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York to hunting grounds in the Carolinas. The pathway became a major colonial road as early as 1662. In 1808 the construction of Little River Turnpike (U.S. Route 50) intersected Old Carolina Road. This historical transportation link was in regular use up until about 1980.  A portion of the storied Old Carolina Road is preserved today beside the Cemetery stone wall as a witness to our earlist history.