On Sept. 7, representatives of the Family & Friends of Mount Sinai Cemetery participated in a virtual meeting with Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall and with staff from her office and from the office of Catoctin District Supervisor Caleb Kershner. The meeting was hosted by Chair Randall in response to two letters:
(1) A July 30 letter to Chair Randall from Claudette Bard, a co-founder of the Family & Friends group and a Board Member of the Lovettsville Historical Society, asking for Chair Randall’s support for having members of the Family & Friends group appointed as Trustees for Mount Sinai Cemetery; and
(2) an August 16 letter to Chair Randall from Robert Pollard, Chairman of the Loudoun County Heritage Commission, supporting the Family & Friends request to be appointed Trustees for the abandoned African-American cemetery “in order to enhance and expand its ongoing efforts to restore this significant heritage site.”
During the meeting, Chair Randall discussed the resources that the County could bring to bear on the efforts to preserve the cemetery and to right the wrongs which were committed in the past. This would include attempting to determine and document the number of burials beyond those already known. She advised the group that she and Supervisor Kershner will bring an initiative to the full Board of Supervisors to correct the situation with the neglected and abandoned cemetery. It is expected that Chair Randall and Supervision Kershner will present their proposed initiative at to the full Board of Supervisors in early November.
