Remey Mausoleum (Remeum)
USA /
Virginia /
Newington /
World
/ USA
/ Virginia
/ Newington
World / United States / Virginia
tomb(s), ruins, folklore
Site of one of the most unusual and endearing 'urban legends' of Fairfax County, and one that the Pohick Church and local police would like to forget.
The massive tomb complex was the brainchild of Charles Mason Remey, a noted architect and follower of the Baha'i faith.
Remey lavished much of his personal fortune on what he called the "Remeum" a huge family mausoleum that he built on five acres of Episcopal church land. The mausoleum was a large masonry structure that utilized over 2 million bricks and contained marble vaults and pillars that included walled courtyards, chapels, and ample lawns and gardens.
It contained life-size marble statues of deceased family members, marble reliefs depicting important events in American history that involved family members, and plaques commemorating important events in family history. Remey had family members reinterred in the Remeum. Started in 1939, the Remeum cost over a million dollars before construction ceased in the early 1950s.
The complex suffered from inadequate security measures and as word spread of its unique design and construction, it became a destination for local adolescents and youth as well as adults who ended up inflicting significant damage in acts of wanton vandalism. The problem became severe enough that the local Fairfax County authorities deemed the complex a public nuisance.
After a ten year long court battle ensued, Remey ultimately ceded that the complex would never be completed, relinquishing all rights to the parish in a U. S. District Court agreement in 1968 in Alexandria, Virginia. Remey entrusted removal of family remains including those of his late wife to his brother-in-law, Rear Admiral John Remey Wadleigh who re-interred her remains in the burial yard of the Pohick Church and the others were removed to a family gravesite in Pompey, in Onondaga County New York, south of the city of Syracuse.
At the time of the removal of the family remains, Admiral Wadleigh had concrete cinderblocks and dirt wall plugs installed to prevent further access to the inner recesses of the complex. The Pohick church in 1973 had the outer courtyard wall knocked down followed by the atrium in 1976, which left the entrance to the underground complex partially exposed.
The "urban legend" grew spreading throughout the local high schools and other places where young persons congregated, as to the mysterious "crypts" at the Pohick Church where "one could party-hearty" during the middle to late seventies. The site became a destination and numerous illicit gatherings involving underage drinking, mating rituals, and vandalism took place.
As these events took place the complex fell under increasing scrutiny of local law enforcement and became a legal liability to the parish which ultimately contracted with a local road construction company based in nearby Newington, Virginia, to cover over the complex completely and regrade the area so as to eradicate any traces. This was accomplished in the fall of 1983.
Currently the only remaining features of the Remeum are an obelisk honoring Remey's father and mother which stood at one end of the courtyard, south of the inner atrium's entrance, and two chimney/vent structures. The area has been reforested since the 1983 site-work and there are no other visible traces of the complex left.
There remains considerable debate over just how much of the below-ground sections of the mausoleum were ever completed and may still exist below ground. Some claim it was only the one five-room subterranean level, while some witnesses have reported at least two, and possibly as many as five sub-levels.
The massive tomb complex was the brainchild of Charles Mason Remey, a noted architect and follower of the Baha'i faith.
Remey lavished much of his personal fortune on what he called the "Remeum" a huge family mausoleum that he built on five acres of Episcopal church land. The mausoleum was a large masonry structure that utilized over 2 million bricks and contained marble vaults and pillars that included walled courtyards, chapels, and ample lawns and gardens.
It contained life-size marble statues of deceased family members, marble reliefs depicting important events in American history that involved family members, and plaques commemorating important events in family history. Remey had family members reinterred in the Remeum. Started in 1939, the Remeum cost over a million dollars before construction ceased in the early 1950s.
The complex suffered from inadequate security measures and as word spread of its unique design and construction, it became a destination for local adolescents and youth as well as adults who ended up inflicting significant damage in acts of wanton vandalism. The problem became severe enough that the local Fairfax County authorities deemed the complex a public nuisance.
After a ten year long court battle ensued, Remey ultimately ceded that the complex would never be completed, relinquishing all rights to the parish in a U. S. District Court agreement in 1968 in Alexandria, Virginia. Remey entrusted removal of family remains including those of his late wife to his brother-in-law, Rear Admiral John Remey Wadleigh who re-interred her remains in the burial yard of the Pohick Church and the others were removed to a family gravesite in Pompey, in Onondaga County New York, south of the city of Syracuse.
At the time of the removal of the family remains, Admiral Wadleigh had concrete cinderblocks and dirt wall plugs installed to prevent further access to the inner recesses of the complex. The Pohick church in 1973 had the outer courtyard wall knocked down followed by the atrium in 1976, which left the entrance to the underground complex partially exposed.
The "urban legend" grew spreading throughout the local high schools and other places where young persons congregated, as to the mysterious "crypts" at the Pohick Church where "one could party-hearty" during the middle to late seventies. The site became a destination and numerous illicit gatherings involving underage drinking, mating rituals, and vandalism took place.
As these events took place the complex fell under increasing scrutiny of local law enforcement and became a legal liability to the parish which ultimately contracted with a local road construction company based in nearby Newington, Virginia, to cover over the complex completely and regrade the area so as to eradicate any traces. This was accomplished in the fall of 1983.
Currently the only remaining features of the Remeum are an obelisk honoring Remey's father and mother which stood at one end of the courtyard, south of the inner atrium's entrance, and two chimney/vent structures. The area has been reforested since the 1983 site-work and there are no other visible traces of the complex left.
There remains considerable debate over just how much of the below-ground sections of the mausoleum were ever completed and may still exist below ground. Some claim it was only the one five-room subterranean level, while some witnesses have reported at least two, and possibly as many as five sub-levels.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 38°42'25"N 77°11'48"W
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