Spring Bank

Spring Bank

1809

Spring Bank was an African American Community founded by a free African American Charles Henry Quander when he purchased 88 acres between Alexandria and Gum Springs. The Quander family traced its roots back to the 17th century in the colonies (www.mountvernon.org). Nancy Carter married Charles Quander sometime after she received her freedom in George Washington’s will. Not much is known about Nancy’s life except she was one of the twelve formerly enslaved who returned to Mount Vernon in 1835 to work on Washington’s tomb. Nancy cooked meals for the laborers, Sambo Anderson William Anderson, Berkley Clark, William Hayes, Dick Jasper, Morris Jasper, George Lear, William Moss, Joe Richardson, Levi Richardson, and Joseph Smith (Alexandria Gazette newspaper November 16, 1835). In the 1970s, Gladys Quander Tancil, a descendant of Nancy Carter Quander, became the first African American museum guide and interpreter at the Mount Vernon Estate.

Historical Notes by Edith Moore Sprouse (held by Fairfax County Public Library’s Virginia Room)

Freedom House Museum in Franklin and Armfield Office

“Outrage near Spring Bank: slave resistance in Fairfax County” by Edith Moore Sprouse. Historical Society of Fairfax County Yearbook, Volume 29 2003-2004. (Available in Fairfax County Public Library’s Virginia Room)

Mount Vernon