OCAAHS Seeks Public Input on Historic Black Communities

A map of the original land conveyances of Little Petersburg, a historic freedmen’s community. (Image Credit: Piedmont Environmental Council)

As the Orange County African-American Historical Society (OCAAHS) looks forward to the year ahead, the organization is expanding its efforts to foster a more complete understanding of local history.

Much of the work currently being conducted by OCAAHS revolves around collecting and developing an accurate narrative of the many freedmen’s towns and other historic Black communities in the area. With research currently underway, the organization hopes to unveil interpretive panels at two of these sites later this year.

The first community, Little Petersburg, covers more than 200 acres near the Rapidan River in the region of Madison Mills and Little Skyline Drive. It was established in 1867 when Charles L. Bankhead began selling parcels of his plantation to freed Black individuals. Like many freetowns, Little Petersburg operated as a self-sufficient, agricultural community with residents working together to grow food and other necessities.

Little Petersburg’s historically significant sites include the “Fisherman’s Lodge,” which served multiple uses such as a school, meeting building and the site of the first church, Little Petersburg Baptist Church. In 1898, a larger church was built to accommodate the growing congregation, which was later renamed Bethel Baptist Church.

Recent image of Blue Run Baptist Church at Tibbstown. (Photo Credit: Bruce Monroe)

Less is known about the second site, Blue Run Baptist Church at Tibbstown. According to OCAAHS President Bruce Monroe, much of the information that has been collected thus far relates to the church itself, such as property documents and those in leadership. With help from the public, OCAAHS aims to piece together a clearer picture of the community’s history.

Community participation is a crucial part of the process of documenting history, and the organization is encouraging families and individuals who believe they may have information related to either of these sites to come forward. Items of interest include everything from land transfers to family records, letters and artifacts.

According to Monroe, gathering and being able to share information related to local Black communities is vital to a better understanding of Virginia history as a whole.

“It’s a history untold—and what has been told, has not been told by the African-American community,” he explained. “It’s an incomplete history.”

Monroe elaborated on his own formative years during and after segregation, saying, “I grew up in Orange County, attended Orange County Schools. I never heard a word of slavery. I never learned too much about Orange County and the history about African-Americans during my school years. So there is a lot that is yet to be told, and it is a story that not only African-Americans are interested in. It’s a story that the public in general is interested in.”

OCAAHS also has worked substantially with the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), which is leading efforts to have the Rapidan River – Clark Mountain Rural Historic District added to the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The proposed district was determined eligible for listing in 2017 and covers 44,150 acres, largely within Orange County along with smaller portions of Madison and Culpeper Counties. The district’s historical significance ranges from pre-colonial indigenous sites to the Civil War and at least six freetowns, including Little Petersburg.

PEC Historic Preservation Coordinator Kristie Kendall noted, “We reached out to the Orange County African-American Historical Society early in the process of the district’s creation in order to ensure the African-American story of the district was being accurately and fully represented and documented.”

The two organizations collaborated throughout 2020 and 2021 to gather information relating to Little Petersburg, culminating in a community meeting and a two-day survey and documentation event that included residents, descendants and historians. As of today, PEC has completed almost all of its survey work in the district and plans to develop the narrative portion of the nomination throughout next month.

Kendall was grateful for the contributions of OCAAHS to the project, saying, “The Orange County African-American Historical Society’s board of directors and members were incredibly helpful in sharing their previous research on African-American families, churches and schools in Orange County, as we continued to document other freetowns throughout the district.”

As OCAAHS continues its work documenting local history, the organization is also celebrating current Orange County residents who have served their community in exceptional ways. OCAAHS recently awarded six individuals, including two youths, with Eclipse Awards. According to OCAAHS, each of the award recipients “have consistently gone above and beyond in raising awareness of Orange County’s African-American people and heritage.”

2023 Eclipse Award winners are as follows: Rebecca Coleman, a former OCAAHS president who had a pivotal role in the commemoration of Montpelier’s cemetery of the enslaved and the restoration of the Gilmore Farm; dedicated community volunteers Jane Ware Johnson and Flossie Jones; former Orange County Review editor Jeff Poole; and youth recipients Donea Brooks and Anthony Owens.

Those who wish to learn more about this year’s Eclipse Award winners and other OCAAHS projects are welcome to attend the organization’s annual meeting, which will take place Sunday, Feb. 12, from 3 to 5 p.m. at The Arts Center In Orange. To contact the OCAAHS History Committee with information related to Little Petersburg and Blue Run Baptist Church at Tibbstown, email ocaahs@gmail.com.

For more information about the Orange County African-American Historical Society, including full bios of the 2023 Eclipse Award recipients, visit www.ocaahs.org.

To learn more about the PEC’s proposal for the Rapidan River – Clark Mountain Rural Historic District, visit www.pecva.org/work/communities/planning/the-rapidan-river-clark-mountain-rural-historic-district.