Board of Historic Resources Quarterly Meeting 16 June 2016 Sponsor Markers Diversity

Educator, Dean of Women, University Administrator, Activist, Athlete

1883 – 1937

Slowe was born in Berryville, Virginia on July 4, 1883 in an area known as the Josephine Community. She was a founding member and first president of the first Greek letter Sorority for African American women, Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1908. She left an indelible imprint philosophically, professionally, and personally on the lives she touched. In 1917, Slowe became the first African American to win a national title in any sport by winning the first women’s title at the American Tennis Association’s national tournament. Slowe who was the first Dean of Women at Howard University served in this capacity from 1922-1937. She died on October 21, 1937. “A leader of young womanhood and a friend to all humanity”

Lucy Slowe, educator, was born in Berryville. In 1908, while attending Howard University, she became a founding member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Greek letter organization for African American women, and was elected its first president. In 1917 Slowe won the national championship in women’s singles at the segregated American Tennis Association’s inaugural tournament. During her career as a public school teacher and principal, president of the National Association of College Women, English professor at Howard University, and Howard’s first Dean of Women (1922-1937), Slowe worked to combat gender inequities and to prepare African American women for leadership.

Caroll L. L. Miller and Anne S. Pruitt-Logan, Faithful to the Task at Hand: The Life of Lucy Diggs Slowe (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2012).

Lisa R. Rasheed, “Lucy Diggs Slowe, Hoard University Dean of Women, 1922-1937: Educator, Administrator, Activist,” (Ph.D. diss., Georgia State University, 2010).

Linda M. Perkins, “Lucy Diggs Slowe: Champion of the Self-Determination of African-American Women in Higher Education,” Journal of Negro History, vol. 81 (Winter-Autumn 1996): 89-104.

www.americantennisassociation.org

www.aka1908.com
2. 69 Slaves Escape to Freedom

Sponsor: Lois Williams

Locality: Lancaster County

Proposed Location: Route 3 near north end of Norris Bridge at Rappahannock River

Sponsor Contact: Lois Williams, lcw32@verizon.org
Original text:
69 Slaves Flee to a British Ship and Freedom

British policy during the War of 1812 offered freedom and resettlement in “His Majesty’s colonies” to slaves reaching a British ship.  British barges picked up three runaway male slaves 14 April 1814 from Corotoman, a plantation two miles west of here.  Guided by the runaways, the barges returned four days later to carry off their families and friends, including 45 children.  This was the largest group of slaves escaping from a Chesapeake Bay plantation during the war.  Most were settled in Nova Scotia, some in Trinidad.  In 1828 British reparations compensated owners for slave loss, including the Corotoman families. 

About 2,400 enslaved African Americans in Virginia escaped to the British during the War of 1812, encouraged in part by a proclamation issued on 2 Apr. 1814 offering them freedom and resettlement in “His Majesty’s Colonies.” Three enslaved men from Corotoman, a plantation two miles west of here, fled on 18 Apr. 1814. Several days later, they guided British barges back to carry off friends and relatives, including 46 children, the largest group of slaves to leave a Chesapeake Bay plantation during the war. Most settled in Nova Scotia or Trinidad. British reparations later compensated some owners for departed slaves, including, in 1828, those from Corotoman.

Proclamation, Alexander Cochrane, 2 April 1814.

John Richeson to St. George Tucker, 20 April 1814 and 22 April 1814.

William Lambert to the Governor [James Barbour], 22 April 1814 and 29 April 1814.

Joseph C. Cabell to John Hartwell Cocke, 30 April 1814, 22 May 1828.

Deposition, John Richeson “List of Negroes Carried Off,” NARA

Deposition, William H. Richardson, “List of Negroes of Dr. Charles Carter,” NARA

Addison Hall and James Kelley, “Evidence in the Claim of J.C. Cabell and S.G. Tucker” and “Evidence in capture and carrying away of the slaves by the British forces,” 28 Feb. 1828, NARA.

Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2013).

Craig M. Kilby and Myron E. Lyman Sr., “The War of 1812 in the Northern Neck,” Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine (2013).

Stuart L. Butler, “Slave Flight in the Northern Neck during the War of 1812,” Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine (2007).

3. Lucille Chaffin Kent (1908-1997)

Sponsor: Jane Baber White

Locality: Lynchburg

Proposed Location: 2211 Memorial Avenue

Sponsor Contact: Jane Baber White, janebaberwhite@gmail.com
Original text:
Lucille Chaffin Kent (1908-1997)

Lynchburg native Lucille Kent was the first Virginia woman and one of the first women in the nation to earn an instructor’s rating in aeronautics. During World War II, Kent trained over 2,000 Army and Navy pilots near here in facilities at Lynchburg College and the old Miller Orphanage. Earlier she had become a ground school instructor at Lynchburg’s Preston Glenn Airport and the old E. C. Glass High School, teaching meteorology, navigation, and civil air regulations. Later she was a Link Trainer instructor in instrument navigation using a flight simulator. Her aeronautics manual for flight training provided comprehensive instruction in instrument flying.

Lucille Kent, born near here, was among the first Virginia women to earn an instructor’s rating in aeronautics. In 1939 she began teaching meteorology, navigation, and civil air regulations at E. C. Glass High School. During World War II, she was ground school director for the Civilian Pilot Training Program (later War Training Service) in Lynchburg and instructed about 2,000 future military pilots at Lynchburg College, in commandeered facilities at the Miller Home for Girls, and at Preston Glenn Airport. After qualifying as an instructor on the Link Trainer, a flight simulator, Kent taught pilots how to navigate using instruments. She later wrote a comprehensive aeronautics manual.

Located on this property for 190 years, the penitentiary was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson in 1796, designed by noted architect Benjamin Latrobe, who also designed the U.S. Capitol, and admitted its first 21 prisoners in 1800. Jefferson’s concept of rehabilitation by “labor in confinement” was unique in the U.S., as was the horseshoe shape of Latrobe’s original structure. Former Vice President Aaron Burr was incarcerated here in 1807 as he awaited trial for treason. Virginia’s death row was located here from 1908 until 1990. After surviving the Civil War, several fires, riots and an earthquake, the penitentiary closed 14 Dec. 1990.

The Virginia General Assembly authorized a state penitentiary in 1796 during a penal reform movement aimed at rehabilitating convicts through confinement and labor. Benjamin H. Latrobe, who later designed the United States Capitol, was the primary architect. The penitentiary opened here in 1800, and other buildings were added later. Early inmates included former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr, incarcerated in 1807 while awaiting trial for treason, and British prisoners captured during the War of 1812. Virginia’s executions took place here from 1908 until the penitentiary closed in 1990. Latrobe’s structure was razed in 1927, and the rest of the complex was demolished in 1992.

“A Guide to the Records of the Virginia Penitentiary, 1796-1991,” (Library of Virginia)

Norman Johnston, “Prison Reform in Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Prison Society

Mary Agnes Grant, “History of the State Penitentiary of Virginia” (M.A. Thesis, College of William and Mary, 1936).

Samuel Shepherd, ed., Statutes at Large of Virginia, 2:5.

Richmond Hill was an early name for Church Hill. Richard Adams built a mansion here before 1790. Richard Adams, Jr. built the second mansion on the site, still standing, before 1810. William Taylor added the second story and porches in 1859. In 1866, the Sisters of the Visitation of Monte Maria established a monastery and school here, erecting a chapel in 1894. The monastery was purchased in 1987 by an ecumenical Christian community, and called Richmond Hill. The monastery and gardens are maintained by the Richmond Hill Community as a retreat center and place of prayer for the city.

Richmond Hill was an early name for Church Hill. Richard Adams, one of the most prominent men in Richmond, built a house on this site by the 1790s, and a second house, still standing, was constructed here about 1810. William Taylor remodeled this residence in the Italianate style in 1859, adding the second story and porches. In 1866, the Order of the Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary established a monastery and school here, and they erected a chapel in 1894-95. The monastery, known as Monte Maria, was purchased in 1987 by an ecumenical Christian community, which named the property Richmond Hill and opened it as a retreat center and place of prayer for the city.

Mary Wingfield Scott, Old Richmond Neighborhoods, 30-31, 47, 49.

National Register of Historic Places nomination form, St. John’s Church Historic District amendment, 1991.

John G. Zehmer, The Church Hill Old & Historic Districts

www.richmondhillva.org

Cumberland Town, on the south side of the Pamunkey River, was established by Richard Littlepage III in 1748. It offered deep water access with wharfs, tobacco warehouses, stores, and a ferry that connected New Kent and King William counties. Prior to the selection of Richmond as the capitol of the Colony of Virginia, Cumberland was considered as a candidate by the House of Burgesses. The town was occupied by both British and American troops during the Revolutionary War and it was the site of a massive concentration of Union forces in May, 1862.

https://books.google.com/books?id=On5ExeFZVuoC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=mcclellan+cumberland+landing+may+1862&source=bl&ots=x8JRfQRwXO&sig=0WP_t8b3V_FWSSEX4uwcRp3NttI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQi6ftmO7LAhVKFx4KHZuKBSU4ChDoAQg9MAk#v=onepage&q=mcclellan%20cumberland%20landing%20may%201862&f=false

Captain Philip Chase recovered a large French bronze cannon by using a primitive bell in the Pamunkey River off Cumberland Town. The cannon had been lost in the river during the Revolutionary War and he successfully raised it in 1816. John Watkins, a local landowner, reported to state officials Chase’s intention to move the prize. Chase won a judicial dispute in 1817 and was allowed to export the cannon. It is 12 feet long and has the date 1686 cast in the surface along with the French Crown and a coat of arms.

Gilbert Chase, a New England ship captain, recovered a bronze French cannon in the Pamunkey River off Cumberland Town in June 1816. Two members of his crew descended in a diving bell patented in 1806, which Chase had acquired the rights to use. The 12-foot-long, 5,240-pound cannon, lost during the Revolutionary War, was decorated with mottoes and coats of arms. Virginia claimed it as state property, but Chase argued that the patent authorized him to keep what he salvaged and that the state had forfeited its rights by abandoning the cannon. In Nicholas v. Chase (1817), Virginia’s Superior Court of Chancery ruled in favor of Chase. The cannon was likely melted down during the Civil War.

Benjamin Blake Minor, “The Brass Cannon in the Armory-Yard at Richmond,” Southern Literary Messenger (April 1847): 243-249.

Law of the Sea: http://law-of-the-sea.com/the-diving-bell-of-richard-tripe/
6. McClellan’s Camp at Cumberland Landing

Sponsor: Southwestern Holdings, Inc.

Locality: New Kent County

Proposed Location: 9007 Cumberland Road

Sponsor Contact: John Poindexter, jpoindexter@jbpco.com
Original text:
McClellan’s Camp at Cumberland Landing

McClellan’s encampment at Cumberland Town was one of the largest military concentrations of the Civil War. The 1862 peninsular campaign, during which Union forces intended to capture Richmond, began in May as 120,000 troops arrived by naval transports or marched from the east. A Vermont soldier observed that the tents, wagons, cannons and horses went as far as the eye could see. Allan Pinkerton, later head of the Secret Service, and George Custer were among those stationed at Cumberland. General McClellan resided in the Cumberland Plantation house during the occupation of the site.

In May 1862, during the Peninsula Campaign, the Union Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan advanced up the Pamunkey River toward Richmond, while Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s army moved to defend the city. Cumberland Landing, just northeast of here, served as McClellan’s headquarters and supply depot from 13 to 16 May. Nearly 110,000 troops, possibly the largest American army assembled to that date, camped nearby. James F. Gibson, a pioneer in Civil War photojournalism, captured striking images of the sprawling tent city, ships on the river, and formerly enslaved African Americans called “contrabands.”

Garry E. Adelman, “Documentary Photography Comes of Age on the Peninsula,” http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gainesmill/documentary-photography-comes.html

Library of Congress photograph collection: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=cumberland%20landing

Stephen W. Sears, To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1992).

Richard E. Killblane, “White House Landing: Sustaining the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign”: http://www.transportation.army.mil/historian/documents/White%20House%20Landing%20paper.pdf

George Poindexter (Poingdestre, Poyndestre), a member of a prominent family on the Isle of Jersey, immigrated to America in the 1650s, and settled at Middle Plantation, today Williamsburg. He was a ship owner and planter, and his name is engraved in Williamsburg’s Bruton Parish Church as a member of the vestry of 1674-1683. George relocated to New Kent in the 1680s and he and his wife Susannah established Criss Cross Plantation. The residence, listed in the National Register of Historical Places, derives its name from Christ’s Cross, a reference to the cruciform plan of the building.

George Poindexter (Poingdestre), a member of a prominent family on the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel, arrived in Virginia by the 1650s and settled at Middle Plantation, now Williamsburg. He acquired land in at least three counties, prospered as a tobacco planter, owned a number of enslaved African Americans, and controlled an interest in the merchant ship Planter’s Adventure. In 1679 Poindexter was elected to the vestry of Bruton Parish. He and his wife, Susanna, moved to New Kent County in the 1680s. Their descendants owned several plantations in this area, including Cedar Lane, Criss Cross, and Moss Side.

John B. Poindexter, “A Poingdestre-Poindexter Genealogy” (1976).

First patented in 1637, this 450 acre plantation was purchased in 1642 by Thomas Kirby, a former carpenter's helper who rose to become a country “Gent” by 1660.  At that time he entered into an unusual “insurance” contract with Dr. Peter Plovier for lifetime medical care, in exchange for 100 acres of his plantation. His house, remodeled after the 1667 great hurricane, had camed glass windows and other amenities. At his death in 1668, Kirby left a wife and son, Robert, whose many descendants held a variety of local public offices. Family members lived here into the 19th century.

Thomas Kirby, a former carpenter's helper who arrived in Virginia by the 1630s, purchased this 450-acre plantation in 1642. Successful as a tobacco planter, he attained the status of gentleman by 1660. At that time he entered into an unusual contract with physician Peter Plovier for lifetime medical care in exchange for 100 acres of his plantation. At his death in 1668, Kirby left a wife, Mary, and a son, Robert. Late in the 20th century, descendant James L. Kirby Jr. sponsored an extensive archaeological investigation of this site that revealed evidence of the original house, outbuildings, stockades, and palisades.

Eve Gregory, Unpublished manuscript, chapters 1 and 2.

Weisiger, Benjamin B., York County, Virginia, Records, 1659-1662 (Richmond, 1989), 62.

Weisiger, Benjamin B., York County, Virginia, Records, 1665-1672 (Richmond, 1989), 85, 103.

Nell Marion Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, 1:77, 156.

Noel Currer-Briggs, Virginia Settlers and English Adventurers (Baltimore, 1970), 401.

Low Moor Lodge No 166 of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons built this combined opera house and lodge in 1905. The Masons held their meetings in the lodge on the third floor from 1906 to 1921. The Theatre hosted many plays, musicals and Vaudeville shows in addition to silent movies and early “talkies”. Well known celebrities who made appearances included Lash LaRue, Roy Rogers and his horse, Trigger, Hopalong Cassidy, Tex Ritter, Gene Autrey, Burl Ives, and the Count Basie Orchestra. The Shenandoah Theatre Company acquired the Theatre in 1926 and it was managed for many years by Warner Brothers. In 1968, the Theatre was renamed the Stonewall Theatre by its owner, Irwin Cohen, because it was such an imposing building on the downtown Clifton Forge landscape. The Theatre operated continuously as a movie house before closing its doors briefly in 1986. Having a number of different owners and stage venues since then, a series of renovations from 1991 through 2016 brought the Theatre back into full operation.

Low Moor Lodge No. 166, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, commissioned this Neo-Classical Revival–style opera house and lodge, erected in 1905 at a cost of about $40,000. The Masons held meetings on the third floor from 1906 to 1921. The theatre, able to seat more than 500 people, hosted plays, vaudeville shows, silent and talking films, community events, and political addresses. Live performers reportedly included Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Lash LaRue, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers, Burl Ives, and the Count Basie Orchestra. The theatre, later renamed the Stonewall, closed in 1987. Major restoration work during 2015-2016 brought it back into full operation.

Rick Tabb and Josephine Dellinger, Images of America: Clifton Forge (2011)

John Wells Papers, Library of Virginia

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Clifton Forge Commercial Historic District, 1992.

Elizabeth Hicks Corron, Clifton Forge, Virginia: Scenic, Busy, Friendly, 101-104.

(To be paid for by Geico Insurance)

(To be paid for by Geico Insurance)

Prince Edward County, formed in 1753 from Amelia County, was named for a brother of King George III. It is home to Hampden-Sydney College (1775), a men’s liberal arts college, and Longwood University (1839), the first state institution of higher learning for women in Virginia. From this county Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant first wrote to propose that Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrender in April 1865. A protest by students at the county’s all-black R. R. Moton High School in 1951 helped lead to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown decision prohibiting public school segregation; in response, county authorities closed the public school system for five years.