Browse Items (28 total)

Bernie Boston - Legendary Locals of McLean; Page 104

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Archie Henry Borgus, Jr. – Additional Recollections of McLean & Great Falls, Virginia; Virginia Room

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In 1935 at least two juries were established in Fairfax County with African American members. This was significant because Blacks were usually excluded from serving on juries in Virginia. Press reports indicated that these were the first African…

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During the first years of the Civil War, thousands of enslaved people escaped to the District of Columbia in search of freedom. During May and June of 1863, as the number of contrabands grew, the Union Army decided to relocate the growing number of…

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Reverend Cyrus Franklin Carter was born enslaved in 1815 in Port-as-Prince, Haiti. When he was a young child, his family was relocated to Lancaster County, Virginia, where he resided until enslaved people were emancipated during the Civil War. Along…

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Chesterbrook - This Fairfax County Historic Marker speaks to the racially mixed community that developed along Kirby Road after the Civil War. The community was originally known as Lincolnville, but the name changed to Chesterbrook in 1897 when the…

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Black youth were educated in the Chesterbrook Colored School, which operated inside the Oddfellows Lodge, which was built on the property of the First Baptist Church Chesterbrook. The Oddfellows building is no longer there.

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The church was founded in 1866 by Cyrus Carter, a Haitian immigrant, as the First Baptist Church Lincolnville. The church building was erected on property donated by Carter who had purchased the land from General John S. Crocker. It was renamed First…

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In 1968, Cooktown was still home to an estimated 15-20 families. Among the 15 dwellings there was one with a septic tank and indoor plumbing. There was no gas, water or sewer service. There were seven homes with electricity, four with telephones. …

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There were 40 boundary stones placed in a square to mark the original boundaries of the District of Columbia. The sandstone markers were placed at one-mile intervals to measure 10 miles on each side, giving a total of 100 square miles. Assisting…

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The cemetery is located about 100' north of the house. Dogwood trees line the north, west, and south sides of the 30'x 60' plot. Periwinkle is growing under the trees and on some graves. There are 12 clearly discernible grave depressions, four of…

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A white clapboard building was constructed about 1886, on a one-acre lot along Walker Road that was donated by William and Clara Rowzee for use as a school for colored children.

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The Floris Colored School was a two-room building that was located on Squirrel Hill Road in Herndon. The building was demolished and replaced in 2009 with the nearby Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School, 2840 River Birch Road, Herndon, 20171

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Gunnell’s Chapel was constructed in 1877 as a small one-room clapboard house of worship along Georgetown Pike on land donated by the Robert Gunnell family. The church was built directly beside the Langley Toll House. It served as a place for worship…

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A small brick monument in back of Linway Terrace Park.
A modest memorial was built by artist Georgia Jessup to honor her ancestors, Maria and Christopher Columbus Hall. Hall purchased 26 acres in Lincolnville along Kirby Road in 1865 from Francis P.…

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Lincolnville was a mixed-race community that developed along Kirby Road shortly after the Civil War ceased. It was probably so named by Reverend Cyrus Carter, a Haitian immigrant, or General John S. Crocker, Warden of the Prisons in the District of…

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A small wooden church and adjoining cemetery was built in 1898 on one acre of land just off Walker Road, along today’s Millstead Road.

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Portions of the unincorporated area of Oak Grove, Sterling, Loudoun County, Virginia, were once located in the Town of Herndon, Fairfax County. But due to boundary line changes/corrections between Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, the area is now located…

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The original two-room Oak Grove School for Black children was built sometime during the 1880s in Herndon, near the Loudoun County line. It served children from the Oak Grove and Cooktown communities. The schoolhouse was replaced in 1930 with some…

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A small community developed around the property of Alfred Odrick at Spring Hill and Lewinsville Roads. It became known as Odrick’s Corner. Odrick purchased 30 acres on the south side of Lewinsville Road in 1872. The Shiloh Baptist Church and the…

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The Fairfax County Park Authority erected a wayside historic marker at the site of Alfred Odrick’s house on the paved pathway beside Lewinsville Road. The remains of the cellar foundation made of stone is visible directly behind the sign.

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Formerly enslaved, Alfred Odrick, purchased 30 acres in 1872 along the south side of Lewinsville Road beginning at Springhill Road. Odrick farmed the land, but he was a carpenter by trade and, so, built his house. A vibrant Black community developed…

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Formerly enslaved, Alfred Odrick helped organize the formation of a one-room schoolhouse that was built on to his property on Lewinsville Road. Classes began in 1879 for area Black students. The school was also used for community meetings and the…

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The Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1882. By 1893, the congregation had enough funding to purchase an acre of land for a church building and cemetery. An original trustee, Samuel Sharper, died in 1895, before church…

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Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1882 with seven trustees: Samuel Sharper, John Willard, Elmead Sharper, William Sharper, William Hatcher, William Harris, and William Grayson. Initial services were held in Odrick’s School…

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