Senate Joint Resolution No. 177 was adopted during the 1989 Session of the General Assembly of Virginia. The resolution directed the Division of Historic Landmarks to study problems affecting small community and family cemeteries. Martha H. Little of Charlottsville was retained by the Division of Historic Landmarks to oversee the study. Alice Calhoun, president of the Preservation Society of Loudoun County, contacted Ms. Little to offer the Society's assistance in conducting the study in Loudoun County. A committee was formed with members Bill and Donna Miner, Alvin P. Titus, Ned Douglass, David Via, Louis Jett, Jeff Ball, and Wynne Saffer. The first meeting of the Cemetery Committee was held in June 1989. Two other Loudoun County citizens, Ronald Blake and Eugene Scheel, also helped the committee identify many small cemeteries.

During the project, committee members performed field research to find out how many cemeteries existed in Loudoun County, map their locations, and assess their condition. One of the goals of the project was to be able to use the data to lobby the state for funds to help maintain cemeteries that had been neglected or were in danger of being destroyed. Upon completion of the survey, 104 small cemeteries were identified.

Ronald Blake (1924-2000) was a member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in 1976, and the Leesburg Town Council from 1992-1994. A Civil War devotee, he donated his collection of Confederate burial site information to the Preservation Society.