The Petty family cemetery is located on a vacant lot of 0.182 acres, situated between 248 and 256 Miami Road- this is the vicinity of Miami Road's intersection with Bannock Road. The cemetery is bordered by bushes that are approximately four feet tall, and is difficult to access. There are no monuments, signs, etc. that would suggest that the property is a cemetery. Visitors to the cemetery must park alongside Miami Road or Bannock Road.

While searching for the grave of his great-great grandfather, Anthony Walke, Jr. (1726-1799), Lewis Walke, Jr. (1867-1931) and his son Roger Selden Walke (1899-1974) located this cemetery in 1914 by mistake. In his recount of Saturday, October 24th, 1914, Lewis Walke, Jr. wrote:

". . . We left the train at Greenwich Station and first made an effort to locate the grave of Anthony Walke, Jr. Upon inquiry at the station for the old burying ground, we were pointed out a clump of trees and bushes in a field about three-quarters of a mile away on the right of the railroad, southeast of the station. There we found the tomb of Mary Elizabeth Petty, but the rest of the graveyard was covered with vines about three feet deep, and it was impossible to tell what was under them. We could not lift them up or pull them aside . . ."

Greenwich Station was a stop on the Norfolk Southern railway line that ran from downtown Norfolk to what is now the Virginia Beach Oceanfront- it appears as such in the 1911 map of Virginia prepared by Rand, McNally & Company, as well as in a 1919 topographic map of the area. It would have been located in the vicinity of the building that now exists at 5759 Princess Anne Road. Utilizing modern mapping tools, it is possible to draw a straight line from this building in a southeastern direction to the location of this cemetery- the resulting distance is slightly less than three-quarters of a mile.

In the plat titled "Subdivision of Arrowhead, Section Six, Princess Anne County, VA," dated December of 1959, and prepared by Frank D. Tarrall, Jr. & Associates, Surveyors & Engineers, the cemetery appears as lot nineteen of block twenty-two. This plat was recorded in the Princess Anne County Circuit Court Clerk's Office on Tuesday, August 8th, 1961. The records of the Princess Anne County Circuit Court Clerk's Office were merged with those of the City of Virginia Beach upon the consolidation of the two jurisdictions on Tuesday, January 1st, 1963.

In his writings, Lewis Walke, Jr. uses the words "grave," "tomb," and "vault" interchangeably. As such, it is impossible to discern the appearance of the grave of Mary Elizabeth Petty in 1914. However, we can assume that, given the overgrown condition of the cemetery at that time, it was likely an above-ground vault for it to have been visible above "vines about three feet deep." Lewis Walke, Jr. provides no further information concerning the other occupants of the cemetery and/or Mary Elizabeth Petty.

Little information is available regarding Mary Elizabeth Petty, other than the fact that she was deceased by or before 1914. It is known that a Mary Petty consented to the marriage of Betsey Lamount Cannon to John Cannon on Wednesday, October 17th, 1798, and that another (if not the same) Mary Petty, the mother of a Nancy Petty Cornick, consented to the marriage of her daughter to Joel Cornick, Jr. on Saturday, August 31st, 1799. It is also known that a Mary Petty was recorded as having two slaves in 1810. All of these records originate from Princess Anne County, but whether or not they pertain to Mary Elizabeth Petty is unknown. It is safe to speculate that Mary Elizabeth Petty likely originated from an eighteenth or nineteenth century family of significant wealth, as above-ground vault funerary structures are almost exclusive to this time period, and are only encountered in the cemeteries of those who were substantially affluent for this period.

Records of the Petty family are equally elusive. It is known that John Petty (1803-1855) lived in or near Kempsville in the early-to-mid-nineteenth century with his wife, Hannah Whitlock Bosher Petty (1824-1907). If surviving records from this time all refer to the same individual, John Petty was of considerable financial means, owning a significant volume of properties in Princess Anne County, and at least forty-nine slaves. Unfortunately, no connection between John and Hannah Petty and Mary Elizabeth Petty can be established. Adding complexity to research into the Petty family is the fact that the name Petty sometimes appears as "Pettey," among other less-prolific variations.

The City of Virginia Beach indicates that the cemetery is owned by Camellia Homes, Inc., but possesses no mailing address for this company. This was the same company that, along with the Lynbrook, Ridgefield, and Tarpon Corporations, undertook the development of Arrowhead in the 1950s and 1960s. As of the date of this writing (Saturday, January 8th, 2022), Camellia Homes, Inc. does not appear in the Virginia State Corporation Commission's online database of active and inactive Virginia business entities.

A past or present owner or occupant of 253 Iroquois Road, the property located behind the cemetery, appears to have planted a garden over the extreme rearward portion of the cemetery, which has since fallen into disrepair. The adjacent property owners and occupants are exceptionally mindful of the cemetery and do not appreciate loitering, mischief, trespassing, and/or vandalism therein.

Interestingly, and likely erroneously, local lore holds that the cemetery contains the grave of an ancient Native American chief.

The cemetery was photographed by the author on Saturday, January 8th, 2022. It is unlawful to visit a cemetery in Virginia between dusk and dawn.

If you have any additional information regarding this cemetery, Mary Elizabeth Petty, and/or the Petty/Pettey family of Princess Anne County, please send me a message via FindAGrave.com.

Virginia Beach, VA GIS GPIN (Parcel ID) 14670099740000

Legal Description ARROWHEAD SEC 6 CEMETERY BLK 22

Land Size 7,931.72 SF