The first high school for blacks in Accomack County was dedicated on this site in 1932. It was named in honor of Mary Nottingham Smith (1892-1951), a black educator who dedicated her life to educating all young people. In 1956, the school was . . . — — Map (db m7822) HM
The Hopeton Passenger Station was donated to the Town of Parksley in 1988 by Nancy Shields for use as a museum. It has been relocated on the foundation of the 1906 Parksley Station and restored through the efforts of the Friends of the Eastern . . . — — Map (db m165088) HM
Factory Road was originally named New Road. It is said to have been built by Henry Frazier, a Black man, by hand, around the time of the Civil War. In 1919, George Lawson of Crisfield, MD in association with the Kegan, Grace & W. Shirt Makers Guild . . . — — Map (db m106988) HM
For almost 250 years the people of Tangier have wrested a living and a lifestyle from the waters that surround them. Most of their days have been occupied with family, work, church, and the other normal pursuits in which we all engage. But they have . . . — — Map (db m97723) HM
For almost 250 years the people of Tangier have wrested a living and a lifestyle from the waters that surround them. Most of their days have been occupied with family, work, church, and the other normal pursuits in which we all engage. But they . . . — — Map (db m106961) HM
On 3 Sept. 1963, nine years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation of public schools unconstitutional, 26 African-American students desegregated Albemarle High, Stone-Robinson Elementary, and Greenwood School. With the . . . — — Map (db m170122) HM
On 3 Sept. 1963, nine years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation of public schools unconstitutional, 26 African-American students formerly enrolled at all-black schools desegregated Albemarle High School, Stone-Robinson . . . — — Map (db m170167) HM
The University of Virginia, established in 1819 for white men only, rejected the application of Gregory Swanson (1924-1992) to its graduate school of law in 1950 because he was black. Swanson, a lawyer from Danville, filed suit with the support of . . . — — Map (db m198386) HM
Wood charcoal fueled the forges in the nailery on Mulberry Row and heated the stoves in the kitchen. Charcoal was stored under lock and key in wooden sheds that once stood here. Built about 1794, these "coal sheds" likely resembled temporary . . . — — Map (db m100442) HM
Mulberry Row’s buildings have all but disappeared—only the remains of four survive. Before re-creating lost buildings and roads, we look at information from many sources. How do we know about this important place and the history of its people, . . . — — Map (db m80863) HM
Born in slavery at Monticello on July 4, 1826, the day of Thomas Jefferson's death, Henry Martin worked at the University in various capacities from about 1847 until his retirement in 1910. In late 1868 or early 1869, he was employed as head . . . — — Map (db m75526) HM
The Eagle. Peacemaker. Tecumseh. Bremo. Wellington. Diomede. These were the six carriage and saddle horses, plus one mule, stabled here in 1821. As many as 30 riding and carriage horses, workhorses, and mules were stabled at various locations on . . . — — Map (db m100157) HM
Master carpenter James Dinsmore oversaw construction of this Ice House to Jefferson's design in 1802. Enslaved and hired workers filled it each year between November and February with ice cut from the nearby Rivanna River, shallow ponds, or snow . . . — — Map (db m68174) HM
Legacy of Hugh Carr
The Ivy Creek Natural Area was once the home of Hugh Carr, born into slavery around 1840 in Albemarle County. The end of the Civil War in 1865 was for Hugh the start of a new life founded in freedom.
In 1870, Hugh . . . — — Map (db m170172) HM
Every article is made on his farm; his negroes are cabinet makers, carpenters, masons, bricklayers, smith, etc. Duc de La Rochefoucauld Liancourt, 1796
You are standing on Mulberry Row, a road once lined with more . . . — — Map (db m68171) HM
Jefferson attempted to create an efficient plantation based on new approaches to agriculture and manufacturing. To realize his goals, dozens of enslaved and free workers lived and worked here on Mulberry Row. Jefferson added a series of dwellings . . . — — Map (db m100132) HM
Jefferson set up a nail-making operation in 1794 to provide income until he could “put my farms into a course of yielding profit.” He calculated the nailers’ daily output, the waste of nailrod, and profits. In its first years, the . . . — — Map (db m80862) HM
What you see here is a reconstruction of the North Terrace wing. The original wing, built 1801-05, housed Jefferson's carriages and the horses and carriages of visitors; most of Jefferson's horses were stabled at the east end of Mulberry Row. Horses . . . — — Map (db m100469) HM
This is a spring that was used by the Carr family when they lived here in 1870. The spring provided a source of clean drinking water and was also used as a storage location to keep perishable foods cool — — Map (db m170175) HM
You are standing on land once inhabited by the Monacan Indians and bison. While much of the landscape has changed, the Rivanna River still runs through, connecting past to present.
1733. The property first came into European hands in a . . . — — Map (db m172972) HM
A network of more than six miles of walking trails leaves large areas of natural habitat undisturbed. The 1.5 mile Central Red Trail leads back to the parking lot and barn. All other trails stem from the Red Trail.
A 0.75-mile paved trail . . . — — Map (db m170174) HM
Over 200 years ago, four log dwellings stood here. The first, constructed in the 1770s and destroyed by fire ca. 1790. was the "Negro quarter," a large 17 x 34 foot structure intended for multiple enslaved individuals or families. Three identical, . . . — — Map (db m100176) HM
In the long, three-celled wooden structure that stood here between ca. 1790 and 1809, Jefferson combined two of what he considered "indispensable" elements of a Virginia plantation, the "smoke house" and "dairy." His unusual design placed "two . . . — — Map (db m100440) HM
Panel 1 Jefferson introduced mechanized cloth production to his plantation when trade embargoes and looming war cut off the supply of imported British cloth. In 1811, he hired William McLure, a free white artisan and "a very ingenious man," . . . — — Map (db m68175) HM
1975: Red Flags
For years, Elizabeth (Babs) Conant had canoed the relatively new South Fork Rivanna Reservoir and enjoyed its abundant wildlife. Then one autumn day in 1975, she rounded a bend and saw something ominous. Survey stakes . . . — — Map (db m170170) HM
This chimney and foundation are all that remain of the “joiner’s shop”, one of the first structures on Mulberry Row. From about 1775, free and enslaved workmen produced some of the finest woodwork in Virginia. Sawyers and carpenters . . . — — Map (db m80860) HM
The St. John School, built here in 1922–1923, served African-American students during the segregation era. Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck and Co., collaborated with Booker T. Washington in a school-building campaign begining in . . . — — Map (db m102560) HM
Ben Brown and other newly freed slaves, who
founded the community after the Civil
War, first named the settlement Egypt and then Bethel.
About 1881, the community became known as Proffit when the Virginia Midland Railway placed
a stop here, . . . — — Map (db m16946) HM
Free State, a community of free African Americans, stood here. Its nucleus was a 224-acre tract that Amy Farrow, a free black woman, purchased in 1788. Her son Zachariah Bowles lived here and married Critta Hemings of Monticello, an older sister of . . . — — Map (db m170663) HM
African Americans established "The Fort," a community that continued here after the Civil War (1861-1864) for nearly a century into the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s. The place received its name from The Fort's location around the remnants of . . . — — Map (db m149722) HM
Text, upper half of marker panel:
This house, built by Emmanuel Jones by 1888, stands at the corner of a block that witnessed the extremes of 19th century African American experience. From a slave trading company to significant . . . — — Map (db m46124) HM
Under this plaza is the concrete floor of a gas station, the construction of which desecrated many graves. The flooring was kept in place to protect the graves that may remain below. — — Map (db m188799) HM
Three roads formed this Fairfax County intersection by the early 19th century. Braddock Road, Middle Turnpike (later called Leesburg Pike/King Street/Route 7) and Quaker Lane were the wagon routes for trade between the port town of Alexandria and . . . — — Map (db m150816) HM
Alexandria's Changing Shoreline
In 1749 the town of Alexandria was laid out on 10 to 15 foot bluffs around a crescent of shallow water. The back edge of John Carlyle's property, where you are standing now, was about 15 feet above the Potomac . . . — — Map (db m129171) HM
[Plaque on the left side of the entrance:]
From the establishment of Alexandria in 1749 to the present time, African Americans have been a vibrant part of this city's history. The City of Alexandria would not exist in its present form were . . . — — Map (db m131547) HM
The Civil War (1861-1865) opened the door for opportunity and civil rights for African American Virginians, about 90 percent of whom were enslaved in 1860. The upheaval from battles and the federal presence in Alexandria and eastern Fairfax . . . — — Map (db m149734) HM
On 17 Dec. 1785, George Washington endowed a school here in the recently established Alexandria Academy “for the purpose of educating orphan children.” In 1812, an association of free African Americans founded its own school here in space vacated by . . . — — Map (db m813) HM
The launch of urban renewal in 1965 led to a boom of archaeological discoveries in Alexandria's Old and Historic District. As buildings were razed exposing artifact-laden layers of history, community outcry demanded that the City address and halt . . . — — Map (db m115770) HM
This is the original entrance to the Robert H. Robinson Library, built in 1940 as the segregated facility for Alexandria's African American residents. — — Map (db m188812) HM
On August 21, 1939, five young African-American men, William Evans, Edward Gaddis, Morris Murray, Clarence Strange and Otto Tucker entered the Barrett Library, then a whites-only segregated, public facility. When they requested library cards and . . . — — Map (db m195649) HM
On 21 August 1939, five young African American men applied for library cards at the new Alexandria Library to protest its whites-only policy. After being denied, William Evans, Edward Gaddis, Morris Murray, Clarence Strange, and Otto L. Tucker each . . . — — Map (db m82774) HM
Securing the Capital
On May 24, 1861, Gen. Winfield Scott ordered eleven regiments of Union troops from Washington, D.C., across the Potomac River, where they captured Arlington and Alexandria.
After their defeat in July at Manassas, . . . — — Map (db m92113) HM
Alexandria was established by Virginia's colonial assembly in 1749, over four decades the U.S. Congress authorized creation of a national capital on the banks of the Potomac River. Once the final site for the Federal city was selected by President . . . — — Map (db m141166) HM
Alfred Street Baptist Church is home to the oldest
African American congregation in Alexandria,
dating to the early 19th century. It has served as a
prominent religious, educational, and cultural
institution. In 1818, the congregation, then . . . — — Map (db m14623) HM
The Alexandria Library's Kate Waller Barrett Branch (2 blocks north, 1 block east) and the Alexandria Black History Museum (6 blocks north) have an unusual shared history. The library building was constructed in 1938 and named for Dr. Kate Waller . . . — — Map (db m115715) HM
African Americans escaping slavery found refuge in Alexandria after Union troops occupied the city in 1861. The Rev. Clement “Clem” Robinson established the First Select Colored School in 1862. Hundreds of students registered for day and . . . — — Map (db m98079) HM
This modest, wood-frame building has played an important role in the segregated history of Alexandria. During World War II, the federal government encouraged women to join the war effort by providing safe and affordable day care. In Alexandria, . . . — — Map (db m129190) HM
Just two blocks north of this location along Fayette Street (named for the Marquis de Lafayette who visited Alexandria in 1824), near the southwest corner of Queen Street, stood the Old Powder House, dating from 1791-1809. On the same spot, the . . . — — Map (db m115713) HM
Travel the Chinquapin Trek
The Chinquapin trek takes you back in time. Interpretive signs discuss the process associated with the formation of Taylor Run and forest succession. Illustration of trees, plants and wildlife assist you in . . . — — Map (db m150802) HM
The Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial is dedicated to honoring more than 1,700 people of African descent buried here during and following the Civil War, as well as those who may have been laid to rest after the cemetery officially . . . — — Map (db m77244) HM WM
Seeking freedom and a chance to begin a new life thousands of African Americans fleeing slavery flooded Civil War-era Alexandria. The city was quickly overwhelmed, and as living conditions grew dire, many perished from disease and deprivation. In . . . — — Map (db m86652) HM
This area, called "Cross Canal," was a neighborhood of black residents who settled across from the canal shortly after the Civil War. The canal, located just north of this marker, extended from the Potomac River to Washington Street, thence north to . . . — — Map (db m129476) HM
The Douglass Cemetery Association was founded in 1895 as a non-denominational, segregated cemetery for Alexandria's African American community. The Douglass Cemetery is named in memory of Frederick Douglass, who was an American abolitionist, . . . — — Map (db m140586) HM
Earl Lloyd, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, grew up on this block, attended the segregated Parker-Gray High School, and graduated from West Virginia State College. On 31 Oct. 1950, as a member of the Washington Capitols, he became the . . . — — Map (db m195657) HM
The Alexandria waterfront has changed dramatically since the City's founding in 1749. The Potomac River once flowed along the high banks about two blocks west of here near Water (now Lee) Street. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the area where . . . — — Map (db m182672) HM
We are not contrabands, but soldiers of the U.S. Army. We have cheerfully left the comforts of home, and entered into the field of conflict, fighting side by side with the white soldiers…
As American citizens, we have a right . . . — — Map (db m87058) HM
Isaac Franklin and John Armfield leased this brick building with access to the wharves and docks in 1828 as a holding pen for enslaved people being shipped from Northern Virginia to Louisiana. They purchased the building and three lots in 1832. From . . . — — Map (db m72628) HM
Federal authorities established a cemetery here for newly freed African Americans during the Civil War. In January 1864, the military governor of Alexandria confiscated for use as a burying ground an abandoned pasture from a family with Confederate . . . — — Map (db m122082) HM
The building at 1315 Duke Street, two blocks south of here, was originally built around 1812 as a residence for General Robert Young, commander of Alexandria's militia, who died in 1824. This three-story brick building then became the . . . — — Map (db m115706) HM
Many of the African Americans who fled to Alexandria to escape enslavement and those already living here succumbed to disease and deprivation during and shortly after the Civil War. Carts bearing the dead entered the cemetery along a path in this . . . — — Map (db m188795) HM
During the Civil War, Freedmen's Cemetery extended into the middle of South Washington Street. Each tan stone in the sidewalk marks a grave identified by archaeologists investigating the location of the original cemetery. — — Map (db m188794) HM
In 1884, James F. Jackson purchased the largest parcel in "The Fort," a post-Civil War African American community. He paid $300 for his 11.5 acres with the "western slope of a bank of Fort Ward." James and wife Catherine (Katie/Kittie), natives . . . — — Map (db m149737) HM
Funded by the U.S. Public Housing Administration and built by the Alexandria Housing and Redevelopment Authority (ARHA) between 1954 and 1959, the James Bland Homes was Alexandria's fourth public housing project, and it more than doubled the . . . — — Map (db m72374) HM
Named for Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Haitian
revolutionary. L’Ouverture Hospttal opened early
in 1864 near the Freedmen’s barracks in Alexandria
to serve sick and injured United States Colored
Troops (USCT). Designed by the U.S. Army, . . . — — Map (db m108153) HM
Discover the spirit of Alexandria that has been making history for well over two centuries
Founded in 1749, Alexandria was the center of commercial and political activity for early patriots such as George Washington as the seeds of the . . . — — Map (db m115776) HM
During the Civil War, 217 was the headquarters of the L'Overture Hospital. It was named after Tousaint L'Overture — Hispaniola's (Haiti) slave revolt leader. Patients were African American Union Soldiers & “contrabands” (escaped . . . — — Map (db m74279) HM WM
Alexandria's Market Square was established only a few years after the town was founded in 1749. The site selected was centrally located in a prime block of the colonial settlement, immediately adjacent to the City Hall. At the time, Cameron and . . . — — Map (db m115757) HM
The 1990 enlargement of this church is dedicated to God's glory and to the memory of the Afro-American Christians, many of them emancipated slaves, who became the congregation of Meade Church by Action of the vestry of Christ Church in 1873, two . . . — — Map (db m129187) HM
In 1939, Samuel Javins conveyed the land which was referred to as "Oakland Church lot" nine years earlier, to the Oakland Baptist Church, after the death of his wife, Florence McKnight Javins. She inherited the property from her mother, Harriet . . . — — Map (db m81223) HM
Parker-Gray School opened on Wythe Street in 1920 to serve African American students in grades 1-8. Until upper-level classes were added in 1932, African Americans had to travel to the District of Columbia to attend high school. Civil rights . . . — — Map (db m98083) HM
In 1941, the United States Housing Authority (USHA), under the Federal Works Agency, began to plan for the construction of permanent housing for Black defense workers in the Uptown neighborhood. Then known as the Lanham Act Alexandria Defense . . . — — Map (db m182231) HM
Panel 1:
In the summer of 1939, Attorney Samuel W. Tucker organized six youths — William Evans, Otto Tucker, Edward Caddis, Morris Murray, Clarence Strange, and Robert Strange — for a “sit-in” at the segregated . . . — — Map (db m141636) HM
At the end of the 18th century, African Americans constituted half of the congregation at Alexandria's Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. With support from Trinity, black members founded a separate congregation early in the 1830s, and their . . . — — Map (db m127781) HM
Known as the "Queen of Lynhaven", Ruby Tucker lived not far from this park on Lynhaven Drive for most of her adult life. She was an ardent advocate for her neighborhood and the City of Alexandria.
Ruby Tucker was a caring mother, grandmother . . . — — Map (db m184533) HM
Under the guidance of the Most Reverend Denis J. O'Connell, Bishop of Richmond, Saint Joseph's Church was built by Father Joseph J. Kelly, of the Society of Saint Joseph (the Josephites) with the assistance of many benefactors, among them being the . . . — — Map (db m129200) HM
In September 1900, Alexandria County opened the original Mount Vernon School on this property to educate children up to the 8th grade. In spite of continual expansion, crowding was always a problem. By 1932, it was necessary to rent the bank . . . — — Map (db m115682) HM
Alexandria, occupied by Union troops during the Civil War, became a refuge for African Americans escaping slavery. Before the war ended, about 50 former slaves founded the Shiloh Society, later known as Shiloh Baptist Church. Members held services . . . — — Map (db m91684) HM
Potomac Yard was once part of a vast, wooded landscape overlooking the Potomac River. The original 6,000-acre tract (about 9 square miles) was passed down through generations of the John Alexander family and divided among surviving spouses and . . . — — Map (db m115672) HM
The Alexandria Almshouse was a publicly-funded poorhouse and workhouse where the needy could find refuge and the courts often sentenced people for vagrancy or indebtedness. Residents worked hard for their sustenance. The Almshouse was built about . . . — — Map (db m133930) HM
About 100 years before Ramsey Homes was built, prominent Alexandrian Henry Daingerfield purchased this parcel of land. In 1849, prominent Alexandrian Henry Daingerfield purchased a parcel of land upon which the Ramsey Homes would eventually be . . . — — Map (db m188811) HM
On January 1, 1808, the earliest date allowed by Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution, the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves went into effect and stated, "It shall not be lawful to import or bring into the United . . . — — Map (db m188750) HM
The West End in the 19th century centered on Duke Street and Diagonal Road. Large undeveloped, the area was devoted to stockyards, agricultural shipment, and "a" notorious business: the slave trade. The house at 1707 Duke Street (left) was part . . . — — Map (db m151028) HM
Enforced racial segregation in Alexandria meant separate, poorly funded schools for the City's African American students. Here, in the African American neighborhood then known as Uptown, a new school was built in 1920 at 901 Wythe Street for . . . — — Map (db m182228) HM
The racially integrated working-class neighborhood known as the Hump, named for the high ground at its northern boundary, once spanned three blocks, centering on the 800 block of Montgomery Street. The Hump was first settled in the decade . . . — — Map (db m72500) HM
Close to midnight on Tuesday, August 8, 1899, Benjamin Thomas, a 16-year-old Black Alexandrian, was lynched from a lamppost on this corner.
Earlier, white rioters attacked the City Jail on N. St. Asaph Street, where they seized and dragged . . . — — Map (db m188809) HM
African Americans in Alexandria suffered, along with other of their race, when a segregated system prevented them from enjoying recreation facilities in their hometown.
From 1926 to 1951, the city had a municipal pool for white residents . . . — — Map (db m80843) HM
Several residents of "The Fort" community were founders of the Oakland Baptist Church, which is located at the intersection of King Street and Braddock Road. The congregation started worshiping in a bush arbor as Oak Hill Baptist Mission in 1888 . . . — — Map (db m81185) HM
Parker-Gray High School served Alexandria's African American students—first on Wythe Street and later on Madison Street—during the City's years of enforced school segregation. With little support from the City, the school's faculty and coaches . . . — — Map (db m195656) HM
The area around duke street between Hooff's Run and the base of Shuter's Hill was once known as "West End." Originally subdivided and sold by John and Thomas West in the 1780s, West End became a thriving community well positioned for commerce along . . . — — Map (db m72367) HM
Alexandria, occupied by Union troops in 1861, attracted many African Americans escaping slavery. In Jan. 1864, a group of formerly enslaved people organized Third Freedmen's Baptist Church (later Third Baptist Church). The congregation moved to this . . . — — Map (db m140583) HM
Few facilities in Northern Virginia offer the variety of recreation options presented by Cameron Run Regional Park. Lying adjacent to the Capital Beltway in Alexandria, Cameron Run is serenity carved among glass and metal — a day long vacation of . . . — — Map (db m197469) HM
Prince Hall Masonry originated in Massachusetts in 1775 when a lodge attached to the British army initiated Prince Hall and 14 other free black men as Freemasons. Universal Lodge No. 1, the first Prince Hall lodge in Virginia, was established in . . . — — Map (db m134455) HM
Welcome to Old Town Alexandria! Experience historical charm with contemporary flair from the river to the rails
Plan
Alexandria Visitors Center at Ramsay House
Knowledgeable staff help you create a perfect plan for your visit. . . . — — Map (db m115143) HM
This city block became part of the Alexandria town grid in 1798. Near the rural outskirts of the developing town, the block remained vacant throughout the nineteenth century. Colross, a country estate, was established in the vicinity, and outside . . . — — Map (db m70671) HM
Archaeological Evidence of a Working Seaport
The archaeologists tasked with researching this property on the 200 block of South Union Street used a host of sources such as historic photographs, lithographs, deeds, court cases, newspapers, . . . — — Map (db m195635) HM
During the Civil War, Alexandria's population swelled with more than 20,000 enslaved African Americans fleeing Confederate territory for safety behind Union lines. Initially called Contrabands because they were considered "property" taken during . . . — — Map (db m127734) HM
The Wilkes Street Tunnel was part of the eastern division of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, founded in 1848 to promote trade with western Virginia. The Orange & Alexandria inaugurated its track in Alexandria on May 7, 1851 with a run from the . . . — — Map (db m143378) HM
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