065-0066

Custis Tombs

VLR Listing Date

11/05/1968

NRHP Listing Date

04/17/1970

NRHP Reference Number

70000815
DHR's Virginia Board of Historic Resources easement

The monument marking the grave of John Custis IV is one of Virginia’s most ambitious examples of colonial funerary art. The elaborately carved pyramidal-topped marble block is decorated with the Custis family coat-of-arms, a drapery-framed inscription, and a human skull motif. It was executed around 1750 by William Colley of Fenn Church Street, London whose name and address is on the tomb. Also in the cemetery is the limestone slab of John Custis (1630-1696). The tombs are located near the Northampton County site of Arlington, the Custis family seat. John Custis IV’s great-grandson George Washington Parke Custis named his Fairfax County plantation, now Arlington National Cemetery, after his Eastern Shore ancestral home. The cemetery is maintained by the Northampton County Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (now Preservation Virginia).

Last Updated: June 2, 2023

Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.

Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark

For additional information Read

Nomination Form

182-0003

Cape Charles Rosenwald School

Northampton (County)

065-5126

Eyreville

Northampton (County)

065-0005

Chatham

Northampton (County)