Westlake Corner in Franklin County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
"No period of my life was devoted to play"
Booker T. Washington National Monument
| | National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior | |
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), April 26, 2026
1. "No period of my life
was devoted to play" Marker
"No period of my life was devoted to play"
-Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery
As an adult, Booker T. Washington was asked what sports or pastimes he engaged in during his youth but he could not recall any: "Almost every day of my life has been occupied in some kind of labour." As an enslaved child, Booker instead filled buckets here at this spring and carried water to men working in the fields.
During Washington's time the spring was originally lined with flat rocks made into a square and capped with an additional large rock. In the 1890s the Robertson family refashioned the spring with a wooden box over a concrete floor where milk and butter were chilled by cool water.
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Agriculture • Industry & Commerce • Waterways & Vessels.
Location. 37° 7.057′ N, 79° 43.836′ W. Marker is in Westlake Corner, Virginia, in Franklin County. It can be reached from Plantation Trail Spur south of Plantation
this page online
Regionally, this marker is in Southern Virginia. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Day of Freedom (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Animals for Food and Farm Work (about 500 feet away); Booker's Lifelong Love of Animals (about 500 feet away); Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail (about 500 feet away); Slavery in the Tobacco Kingdom (about 700 feet away); Plantation Trail (about 700 feet away); "On behalf of the United States" (about 700 feet away); Booker T. Washington National Monument
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), April 26, 2026
2. "No period of my life
was devoted to play" Marker
Other markers no longer nearby. Carry Me Home (was about 700 feet away but has been permanently removed); Freed Here, At Last (was about 700 feet away but has been replaced with another marker now near it); How Tobacco Farms Used Slavery (was about 700 feet away but has been replaced with another marker now near it); The Landscape of Slavery (was about 700 feet away but has been replaced with another marker now near it); Slavery on the Plantation (was about 700 feet away but has been replaced with another marker now near it).
Credits. This page was last revised on April 30, 2026. It was originally submitted on April 30, 2026, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 5 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 30, 2026, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
