Originally known as Northumberland County Training School, this institution opened in 1917, under principal John M. Ellison. Local African Americans raised more than $7,000 to build the school and received additional funding from the Rosenwald Fund. . . . — — Map (db m22954) HM
Five miles northeast is the site of Northumberland House, built by the third Peter Presley, who was murdered in 1750. He was the last male descendant of the first William Presley, who settled there and who was a Burgess as early as 1647. Mantua, . . . — — Map (db m22715) HM
Northumberland County. Area 205 square miles. Originally an Indian district called Chicacoan. In 1648 it became Northumberland County, named for an English county. The mouth of the Potomac River is here.
Westmoreland . . . — — Map (db m22471) HM
Two Revolutionary War soldiers are buried in the Northwest corner of this cemetery. John Damron was born in 1757 in Northumberland County, Virginia. He enlisted in the army in 1776, and served in the 9th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line. In . . . — — Map (db m167453) HM WM
Virginia’s Northern Neck was an attractive target for the British. Its many tobacco plantations—spread over more than a thousand miles of shoreline—were vulnerable to invasion from the water. Launching raids from the Potomac River and . . . — — Map (db m97046) HM
The War of 1812. Impressment of Americans into British service and the violation of American ships were among the causes of America’s War of 1812 with the British, which lasted until 1815. Beginning in 1813, Virginians suffered from a British . . . — — Map (db m76405) HM
The Rosenwald Schools
Following the Civil War, Jim Crow laws were passed to establish "separate but equal" schools for Black and White children. The few Black schools that were created proved woefully inadequate.
Julius Rosenwald and . . . — — Map (db m299464) HM
Nearby at John Mathew’s land on Hunting Creek, Governor William Berkeley constructed a fort authorized by the Virginia House of Burgesses on 21 Sept. 1674. Militiamen from Lancaster, Middlesex and Northumberland Counties garrisoned the fort under . . . — — Map (db m775) HM
On 5 Sept. 1791, Robert Carter III (1728-1804), one of the wealthiest men in the United States, filed a deed of manumission at the Northumberland County Courthouse. This document eventually freed more than 500 enslaved African Americans owned by . . . — — Map (db m99410) HM
Originally known as Hughlett’s Tavern, this building, located behind the courthouse, served visitors to court for more than 150 years. John Hughlett erected the original portion of the tavern before 1795. Griffin H. Foushee, who purchased it in . . . — — Map (db m22709) HM
Thomas Henry Ball was born in Northumberland County, Virginia, in 1819, the son of The Rev. David Thomas and Hannah Henry (Gaskins) Ball. Following in his father's footsteps, Ball became a Methodist minister. While serving his first congregation in . . . — — Map (db m129692) HM
Ditchley, five miles northeast, was patented in 1651 by Colonel Richard Lee. The first house dated from 1687, the present house was built by Kendall Lee in 1752.
Cobbs Hall, near by, was acquired by Richard Lee, probably before 1651. A house . . . — — Map (db m24475) HM
Well known for her contributions to this area of Virginia, Jessie Ball duPont (nee Jessie Dew Ball) was born on Ball family property about one mile north of Hughlett Point.
Schoolteacher
She was the first teacher at Shiloh School in . . . — — Map (db m97240) HM
Hannah got up sleepy-eyed every day at dawn to draw a bucket of water from the well. But as she left the house on the morning of November 13, 1833, she got the shock of her life. Hannah, sixteen-years-old and Black, ran screaming to her mistress: . . . — — Map (db m299461) HM
Thin black lines indicate changes in relevance. Between each pair of lines entries are ordered geographically but all have the same relevance.
* Inflectional forms of words are their plurals, singulars, and possessives as well as gramatical tenses and similar variations.
