LoCoHistory

In the 1910s, Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) donated money to help Booker T. Washington fund six African-American schools in Alabama. The project was a success and soon thereafter Rosenwald (born to a Jewish family that had immigrated from Germany and later, co-owner of the Sears & Roebuck company) created the “Julius Rosenwald Fund” for African-American schools in the south. The goal of the project was to build new and innovative school houses (using, in part, Sears & Roebuck building kits). Rosenwald included a caveat, the entire community had to contribute money and labor to build the school and furnish it. During the 15 years of the fund’s existence (1917-1932), the Rosenwald fund helped finance 4,977 new schools, 217 teachers’ homes, and 163 shop buildings. In some communities these schools were the first formal school house, in others they replaced dilapidated and unsafe structures. In each case, this program encouraged communities to contribute to the construction of their school.

Here in Albemarle County almost a dozen Rosenwald schools were built. They were built between 1921 and 1926. Today, only a handful remain standing. Most of the schools sat on several acres and cost between $2000 and $3000. Here in Albemarle, the Rosenwald fund contributed about 30% of the total cost, the African-American community about 20%, and the remainder was given by “whites” and “the public” (categories used by the fund in identifying donors). The schools were classified based on the number of teachers who taught in the building. In Greenwood they built a “two teacher” school (seen in the photo; Courtesy of the Fisk Collections). These schools continued to be used until desegregation.

If you attended a Rosenwald School or have more information about Albemarle County Rosenwald Schools (or others in central Virginia) please contribute a comment below or contact me directly (lynn[at]locohistory.org). Here in Albemarle several members of the community have begun a project to research the history of these schools.

Much of local history lies in front of our eyes, but goes unnoticed. This is not the case with the Taylor Family. The Martha Jefferson Neighborhood Association and Hospital combined to sponsor a marker that commemorates an African American family that has lived in the neighborhood for over 150 years. Quoting from the marker, “The land was originally part of a 25 acre parcel purchased in 1869 by Fairfax Taylor (1816-895). A former slave who bought his freedom and was the first black land owner in this area. Another member of the family, James T.S. Taylor (1840-1918) was active in politics and a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1867. Both were prominent members of the First Baptist Church and the community. As of this date [1993], their descendants live on family land in one of the three original Taylor houses.” The photo below illustrates one of the original Taylor homes. Unfortunately, the street is no longer called “Taylor.” Instead, the marker lies along Lexington avenue, just north of the Maplewood Cemetery.
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A couple years ago I visited an unmarked graveyard off Route 22. Today located on private property, adjacent to a 20th Century house, the fieldstones in the graveyard dated to an earlier period. The un-inscribed stones suggested an informal, family graveyard, most likely used by individuals who could not afford mass-produced markers. With no names or dates, I filed the cemetery away for later research (such as deed and census analysis to try to figure out who owned the land 100+ years ago).

More recently, I saw an intriguing advertisement for a house (MLS 437142) located only half-a-mile from the old graveyard. The description caught my attention: “Albert Johnson was a freed slave who obtained this property from the Meriwether and Randolph families. Construction started in 1882 with the western-most portion (one over one over one with access via rope ladders). The eastern portion was build in 1889.” I turned to UVA architectural historian emeritus, K. Edward Lay, to learn more. He had studied the house as part of his research into historic homes in Albemarle County (see his book for more information: The Architecture of Jefferson County). According to Professor Lay, Albert Johnson was a black carpenter living on land given to Blacks after Civil War. In the 1880 Census, Albert Johnson is listed as age 35 (born in slavery, around 1845), married to Amity Johnson (also 35) and living with their six children and one other boy (possibly a relative, Jesse Spencer, age 17).

Further inquiries with neighbors, Mrs. G. and Sara Lee Barnes, revealed that at some point between the first and second quarter of the 20th century the house was purchased by a white family named Dowell. For much of the 20th Century, Mrs. Dowell and her children lived very simply in the house. Mrs Dowell lived to be over one hundred years old. After her death, her daughter Lyndell stayed in the house for some years. After she was no longer able to take care of herself, the house was sold out of the family.

The kitchen contains logs said to have come from Monticello or possibly Shadwell (Mr Johnson once lived and worked at the former). A modern bathroom was tacked on at the rear of the house sometime in the 20th century (seen in the photo below). The beautiful oaks in the yard were planted by Mr. Johnson. So while the house lacks central heat or air, it retains the beauty of past craftsmanship (only slightly obscured by cheap paneling and carpeting). Ms Barnes commented that this was one of three homes in the immediate vicinity that were originally built by freed slaves for their families. One (or all) of these homes may have used the graveyard located nearby. Located off busy Route 22 in Keswick, this is the house that time forgot. Hopefully it will be bought and restored, rather than torn down.

One of the wonderful things about living in central Virginia is the beautiful fall weather, perfect for exploring back country roads. Along a recent trip, I came across a 100-year-old African-American Church: Mountain View Baptist, located in downtown Batesville. Located on a steep hillside, the original stone foundation and steeple lie in the center. While there is no contiguous cemetery, an historic black cemetery lies about half-a-mile to the north of the church, adjacent to the Wild Rose Cemetery. Edward K. Lay discusses the architectural features of this church in his book, The Architecture of Jefferson country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. To view historic photographs of the century-old church, visit Professor Lay’s on-line digital collection of “The Architecture of Jefferson Country.” Note, “Jefferson Country” is a moniker for Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

Before desegregation, the only Charlottesville high school open to African Americans was the Jefferson School. Built in 1926, the building is located on Fourth Street at the edge of the old Vinegar Hill neighborhood. The school opened several decades earlier, in 1894, as the nine-room, K-8 “Jefferson Colored Graded/Elementary School” (that building was demolished in 1959). An informal precursor to the school dates to the 1860s.

The first principal of the “Graded School” was Benjamin E. Tonsler (1854-1917). He received his degree at Hampton University and went on to serve as the principal of the Jefferson School for thirty years. In this post we highlight material culture that remains today to commemorate this man’s life and works. First, his gravestone was “Erected by the Alumni of the Jefferson Graded School and Friends” in his memory. His inscription reads “Gone But Not Forgotten.” This stone can be found within the Tonsler Family Plot in the Daughters of Zion Cemetery, located adjacent to the Oakwood Cemetery. Second, his house still stands on Sixth Street (behind the First Baptist Church on Main Street).

If we check the University of Virginia historic Holsinger Collection we locate a third memorial, a photograph of the funeral flowers brought to his house. And fourth, we remember his life in the name of the park located at the corner of Ridge and Cherry: Tonsler Park (the name was choosen in 1958). One man’s biography writ large around us, if we only take the time to notice.

To read more about the history of the Jefferson School, please visit a website that contains a link to a 46-page downloadable history that was compiled as part of efforts to nominate the school as a historic landmark. Preservation Piedmont conducted dozens of oral interviews with former teachers and students. Information on that project is available on their website.

After recently apologizing for slavery, the University of Virginia created a committee charged with researching the enslaved and Free Black community at the university. Although these individuals are not (yet) featured prominently in histories of “Mr Jefferson’s University,” they provided much of the labor that constructed the original buildings, ca. 1819-1828. And, up until Emancipation, many professors and students lived with enslaved individuals on grounds. In addition, throughout the 19th Century, the university was surrounded by several African-American neighborhoods (e.g., Canada, located south of Cabell Hall and the site of the Foster House and Cemetery).

Memorials to the African-American community are scattered throughout grounds. One example is the “crackerbox” (allegedly named after 19th Century students from Georgia who were called “crackers”). This small building, located behind Hotel F, has a rich oral history including references to a bordello, a 19th-kitchen, a woodshed, “the smallest dormitory in the United States,” and, quite possibly, slave quarters. For a fascinating discussion of other campus buildings that may have been used by slaves or post-bellum servants, visit Jim Cocola’s on-line essay titled The Ideological Spaces of the Academical Village: A Reading of the Central Grounds at the University of Virginia.

The newly formed university committee that is researching this forgotten history is hoping to compile any and all documents, oral histories, photographs, or family geneologies that relate to the enslaved and Free Black community at the university. A website dedicated to this project will be posted this summer. If you have information on this topic, please consider contributing it so that it can be compiled into formal accounts of the history of the university.

Today, the Vinegar Hill Theatre and Vinegar Hill Shopping Center are some of the only landmarks that preserve the name of an historic 20-acre neighborhood, previously located in a triangular area roughly bounded by West Main, Preston, and 4th Street. Up until the 1960s, Vinegar Hill was a thriving African-American community. The eastern edge of the community lies under today’s Omni Hotel (#3 in the photo). The two photos illustrate the neighborhood before demolition (in 1957) and after (in 1966). The Jefferson School is #5 and #1 indicates the neighborhood itself. For comparison, I have added a red circle (the site of the Lewis & Clark Statue on Main St) and a feature highlighted in light blue in each photo. There are several useful on-line sources that document the history of this neighborhood: an IATH project, Blair Hawkins’ blog on a recent presentation about Vinegar Hill history given by Dr Scot French and Dr Reginald Butler, a UVA site with historic photographs, and a Cavalier Daily article on Vinegar Hill reporting on a play written by Theresa Dowell-Vest. For a slideshow of photos from the neighborhood, visit the Albemarle County Historical Society website.

This post is in honor of new book on the neighborhood, In the Streets of Vinegar Hill, written by Mr. James A. Williams, Sr.

P.S. There is no consensus for the origin of the name: Vinegar Hill. Options include: (1) a tannery (that might have used vinegar to tan animals hides); (2) a tribute to the site of a fierce battle during the Irish rebellion of 1798; (3) a reference to bootlegged liquor. Have you heard other explanations ?

Today the Ivy Creek Natural Area contains hiking trails, copious amounts of birds, and a learning center. In 1880, on this same site, Hugh Carr’s 80-acre farm, River View, contained crops, a milk cow, 4 swine, 10 poultry, and many other agricultural features. Although born into slavery around 1840, Hugh Carr worked hard after emancipation to save his earnings and invest in land in the Hydraulic Mills neighborhood (along the Rivanna). The Ivy Creek Foundation has conducted extensive research into the Life & Legacy of the Carr family. Many 19th and 20th Century features are visible today: the original farmhouse, a clapboard barn, historic road beds, and springhouses. Make sure you visit the ICNF site before you go so that you can enjoy the rich history of this farm.
During your visit, take a few moments to visit the Carr Family Cemetery. It contains an interesting array of granite and carved fieldstone gravemarkers.

Hugh Carr’s son-in-law, Conly Greer, contracted with several area businesses to haul away their trash. Many of these items, referred to by archaeologists as “artifacts” (it’s true, archaeologists study trash), are visible above-ground in trash middens. Below is a sherd with the profile of a famous Charlottesvillian which was the logo for the Old Monticello Hotel (located across from the courthouse).