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Old general stores are found often in rural communities, some may still be in business while others are converted into visitor centers, new businesses, or sadly, torn down. The origination of the country store, or general store, dates back to the colonial period when they provided pioneers with necessary goods: flour, tobacco, tools, boots, and more. Many towns throughout the country were even named after their local general store since they often served as a Post Office. The old country stores also served a purpose as a social center for the folks of the community, a political forum, and even an exchange bank. In rural areas, like Middlesex, it was common to have several of these general stores since residents were often very spread. Throughout Middlesex County, Virginia, there have been at least 56 old country stores that provided goods and served as communal gathering places, post offices, and sometimes even as town halls. Though each of them may have resembled each other, with their tin signs, display cases, and long countertops and shelving, these old general stores were all unique. This month we will take a tour of Middlesex County, and all of our local country stores, so join us as we look back on a somewhat lost tradition of our local history. If you would like to share any stories, photos, or other memorabilia of one of Middlesex County’s Country Stores with us, we invite you to contact us!

by Larry Chowning Pat Royal Perkinson, second from right, participated in this 1936 Circus Day held in Saluda on Easter Monday. She went on to become Secretary of the Commonwealth in Virginia. In the photo above, Saluda children under the direction of Saluda’s Tom Jones put on a self-styled Barnum and Hayloft children’s circus. Such performances as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” were performed and a parade afterward. Pictured above in the parade are, from right, Bobby Moody, Perkinson, Jane Royal, Charles Bristow, Hannah Bourne, Ray Major, Tom Jones, Bill Moody, Katherine Kipps, and Helen Moody. (Courtesy of Jean Holman) As part of the Middlesex County Museum’s celebration in March of Women’s History Month, the museum is recognizing the late Patricia (Pat) Royal Perkinson. Pat, a native of Middlesex County, rose through the political ranks to become Administrative Assistant to Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr. She made a name for herself as Press Aide to Godwin during his first term, from 1966 to 1970. When he returned for a second term in 1974, she served as Secretary of the Commonwealth, her duties included assisting the state boards and commissions. She was later named Administrative Assistant to the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College systems. Perkinson joined Godwin’s staff after having been responsible for public relations during the Godwin-Pollard-Button campaign in 1965. Prior to that, she was a feature writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Rural Virginia Magazine. Through the Times-Dispatch, Perkinson wrote a column on garden advice for 18 years in the Sunday issue, “Calling All Gardeners”. She also wrote poetry, articles, and stories for other publications, as well as doing public relations work for groups ranging from Maymont to the March of Dime. She served as President of Virginia Press Women. The group named her Woman of Distinction and, twice, Press Woman of the Year. In 1996, Perkinson spearheaded Middlesex County’s grant-funded “Rivers And Roads of Middlesex County, Va.”, a self-guided tour of historic and scenic sites in the county. When the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors established a 2007 Middlesex County 400th Jamestown Anniversary Committee, Perkinson was appointed to the committee and through her diligent efforts pressed to have a complete history of Middlesex County written and published because none had ever been undertaken. She died, however, on February 14, 2010, before the text was completed, but her efforts were realized when “Signatures in Time – A Living History of Middlesex County” was completed and published in 2012. In March of 2010, Virginia House Delegate Harvey Morgan, presented a resolution in the General Assembly, “House Joint Resolution No. 388, Celebrating the life of Patricia Royal Perkinson. WHEREAS, a woman of great vision and determination who cared immensely about her community, profession, and the Commonwealth, Patricia Perkinson served as an outstanding role model for all,” it stated. Perkinson and her husband Bert retired to Prospect in Topping and lived out their lives there. She was a longtime member of the Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society Board and of the Middlesex County Public Library Board. She was a constant voice for preserving county history. When voices within the library wanted to sell historical books in the Urbanna Branch given by Rutherford Snell, to make space, she was a formidable opponent whose voice aided in keeping the books intact. She noted, however, at the time “when trying to preserve history you often in the battle but seldom win the war.” Snell’s collection of historical Virginia books remains today in the cabinet that Perkinson and others had made for the new collection. The museum houses the Snell research papers for the book “Historic Buildings in Middlesex County Virginia 1650-1875.” Hats off to the late Pat Perkinson whose years in retirement living at Prospect was a gift to Middlesex County.

In recognition of March as Women’s History Month, the Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society is honoring Bessida Cauthorne White. Bessida Cauthorne White is the daughter of the late Randolph Cuyler White and the late Gladys Cauthorne White. A native of Middlesex County, Virginia, she grew up in the town of Urbanna and graduated from St. Clare Walker High School in 1965. She was the valedictorian of her graduating class at St. Clare Walker and served as the President of the Student Council. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Virginia State College, now Virginia State University, in 1969. At Virginia State, she was the president of Alpha Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and was program chair of the Student Government Association. Ms. White received a Juris Doctorate from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in 1980. She was the first black person and the first woman to serve as president of the Student Bar Association at College of William and Mary. From those beginnings, she rose like a phoenix, continuing her pattern of being an Agent of Change. Ms. White is the personification of the Renaissance Woman: a woman who is interested in and knows a lot about many things, a woman knowledgeable and proficient in more than one field, a woman who has broad intellectual interests and is accomplished in areas of the arts, literature, history, culinary arts, academia, and genealogy. She is widely known as an activist, attorney, consultant, genealogist, event planner, and proponent of the arts. She has been an activist for nearly sixty years. Her first act of activism was to integrate the lunch counter at Marshall’s Drug Store in Urbanna in 1962 with the late Ralph Jackson; she continued to sit-in at the lunch counter alone after he graduated. Later, also in the 1960s, she became a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party. Ms. White was involved in early efforts in Virginia to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and to enact equitable distribution divorce laws and was a proponent of Roe v. Wade . Her areas of interest as an attorney in private practice include domestic, women’s, and lesbian and gay rights issues. In1983, she was appointed as a substitute judge of the General District Court of the City of Richmond, becoming the first black woman to sit on the bench in the state of Virginia. The multi-dimensional Bessida Cauthorne White always is a woman with a mission. Illustrative of her determination and drive is an adventure in 1977 in which she went searching for a Black doll for her then one-year-old daughter, Lauren Cauthorne Bladen-White, a monumental task since dolls then were largely white. As reported in the April 25-May 1, 1991 edition of the Richmond News Leader, “It took quite some looking to find one, but the experience set Ms. White on the road to collecting that has led to the founding of the Richmond Chapter of the National Black Memorabilia Collector’s Association and bringing the Black Memorabilia and Collections Show and Sale to the city this weekend.” Indeed, over the years she served multiple organizations as both a founder and officer, including the Virginia Women’s Political Caucus, the Virginia Association of Women Attorneys, the Virginia Association of Black Women Attorneys, the Richmond Chapter of the National Black Feminist Organization, the Richmond Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and Friends of African and African-American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. That Bessida Cauthorne White is a visionary is evident. She revels in creating, developing, and exploring. She is masterful in building coalitions to tackle new projects and to rejuvenate the old. She is innovative, motivational, and inspirational. She is an organization person who seeks organizational perfection. In 2004, she co-founded the Middle Peninsula African-American Historical and Genealogical Association and currently serves as its president. She is also a co-founder of the Greater Richmond, Virginia Chapter of the Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society (AAHGS). Currently, she is chair of the board of the Rappahannock Industrial Academy Alumni Association and serves or has served on the boards of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, the Library of Virginia Foundation, and the Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society. She also is a member of the African American Advisory Work Group (AAAWG) of the Menokin Foundation and teaches genealogy classes for Rappahannock Community College. Ms. White is vice-chair of the Trustee Board at Angel Visit Baptist Church and is the church historian. Nationally, she has served on the boards of the National Women and the Law Association, the National Center on Women and Family Law, the National Association of Black Women Attorneys, and on various committees of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. As a consultant and event planner, Ms. White has planned programs involving from just a few persons to several thousand. Her specialty is culturally sensitive and multicultural programming with an emphasis on the culture of the African continent and the African diaspora. One of Ms. White’s passions is genealogy and family history. She is the family historian for ten of her families, manages DNA results for more than forty persons, and has chaired or been otherwise involved in the planning of numerous family reunions over the past thirty-plus years. Bessida Cauthorne White is widely sought as a presenter and has conducted workshops on genealogy and family reunion planning for the National Family Reunion Institute at Temple University, AAHGS, and for other groups around the country. She is the editor of A Reunion of Recipes: The White Family Cookbook (1990), co-editor of Help Yourself! There’s a God’s Mighty Plenty: A Treasury of Recipes from the Cauthorne & Brooks Families (First Edition 2000; Second Edition 2017), and co-editor of Gather at the Welcome Table: The Angel Visit Baptist Church Sesquicentennial Cookbook (2016). Ms. White’s personal interests include black theatre and other performing arts, collecting black memorabilia, and sewing and crafts. She has been married to Philip N. Bladen since 1968, and they are the parents of one daughter, Lauren Cauthorne Bladen-White. It is no wonder that Bessida Cauthorne White was recognized in 2020 by the State of Virginia as an Agent of Change. In honor of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote, the Commonwealth of Virginia organized a statewide commemoration led by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC). To mark the centennial, the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) recreated a famous photograph of Virginia suffragists with a select group of present-day women for a new photo called “Today’s Agents of Change.” The Commemorative Booklet set forth: White is an activist, genealogist, and retired attorney whose interests include Africana history and culture, and African American, women’s, and LGBTQ+ rights. She became the first black woman to serve on the bench in Virginia when appointed a substitute judge of the General District Court of the City of Richmond in 1983. White has served as a founder, officer, and board member for numerous legal, women’s rights, historical, fine arts, and genealogical organizations across the state and nation. By Patricia Polson Satterfield

Middlesex Museum and Historical Society, Inc. Despite the year’s unexpected challenges, the Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society, Inc. was able to alter its course and to develop creative ways to navigate the new reality. The Museum closed in March because of the pandemic and reopened in June with Covid-19 restrictions in place. The safety of our patrons is paramount and in September we again closed to the public as the Covid-19 infection rate increased in our community. The Museum will remain closed until we can safely serve our patrons in person. Even with being closed to the public much of the year, we found new and different ways to continue to share the rich and diverse history of Middlesex County. Website In 2020 we increased the depth and breadth of our website (https://middlesexmuseum.com/) by adding new information in the following categories: churches, schools, country stores, forestry, farming, and oral histories. We also have added material that highlights some of the many objects in our collection. In addition we increased our contributions to the Museums of Middlesex (MOM) website (https://museumsofmiddlesex.com/). MOM is a collaboration among four Middlesex County institutions, the Urbanna Museum, the Deltaville Maritime Museum, the Colonial Seaport Foundation, and the Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society. Since September we have posted monthly historical tidbits on the MOM website. Virtual Programming We instituted free virtual programming to be able to continue with our practice of providing informative and provocative speakers on varied topics of interest to the public. In October, we presented a virtual lecture by the Reverend Dr. Robert W. Prichard on “The Great Awakening in Middlesex County.” Dr. Prichard is a member of our board who is the Arthur Lee Kinsolving Professor Emeritus of Christianity in America at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. In December, we held a virtual lecture by Dr. Melvin Patrick Ely who spoke about his book, Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s Through the Civil War. Dr. Ely, who is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities at the College of William and Mary, writes and teaches about the history of African Americans and of the South. We will continue with virtual programming and have several lectures that are being planned. The Museum has joined as an endorsing organization for a virtual February 21 Black History Month program entitled “Education Foremost: The History and Legacy of the Rappahannock Industrial Academy” that is being presented by the Rappahannock Industrial Academy Alumni Association. Details of this program and other upcoming events will be posted on our website. 2020 Preservation Award Since 2016, the Middlesex County Museum Preservation Award has been given annually to recognize individuals or entities who have made a significant contribution to the public understanding of Middlesex County history. The 2020 Preservation Award was given to longtime museum volunteer Helen Chandler. Helen was recognized for her many hours spent identifying, preserving, protecting, and cataloging the Museum’s accessions. The award was presented virtually at the October “Great Awakening” lecture. Saluda Designated as Historic District The Museum led the successful effort to have Saluda designated as a Virginia Historic Landmark and listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The required documentation was officially completed in the fall of 2020. This designation, while recognizing the significance of our local government’s strategic location and that location’s impact on our county’s history, will not infringe on the rights of property owners. In conjunction with the designation, the Museum is planning an exhibition for 2021 that will be centered on Saluda and its rich history. African-American Businesses in Middlesex County The Museum has formed an Ad Hoc Committee on African-American Businesses in Middlesex County. The committee, whose mission is to document the long history of African-American entrepreneurship in Middlesex County, is composed of board members and other persons from the community. Relevant photographs, documents, and artifacts are being collected with the goal of enhancing the Museum’s holdings on this topic and mounting an exhibition in the not-too-distant future. In connection with this project, oral histories have been recorded from five individuals with additional interviews planned. Flag Raising at Puller Park Members of area U.S. Marine Corps detachments and others gathered at the Museum in November just before Veterans Day for a flag raising to honor Lieutenant General Lewis “Chesty” Burwell Puller and the 245th anniversary of the Marine Corps. Various individuals, clubs, local Marine detachments and businesses in the area funded a new flagpole and relocated the original marker in honor of Gen. Puller as part of a future “Chesty Puller Memorial Park” on the grounds of the Museum. The new flagpole and marker honoring General Puller is the first stage in the park’s development African-American Heritage Fund An African-American Heritage Fund was established through a generous donation from Mary Wakefield Buxton for use only for acknowledgement and appreciation of the many contributions made by Black Americans in our county. A two-fold approach is being considered for the utilization of this restricted fund. This will involve the potential use of a portion of the money for the funding of an exhibition on African-American businesses. The second consideration is the long-term use of the fund to help defray the costs of historical markers that recognize the contributions of African Americans to Middlesex County. Looking Ahead We expect to mount the several exhibitions planned along with exhibition-related programming when pandemic restrictions are eased. In addition we are exploring new and varied ways of delivering virtual programming. An event that had initially been planned for 2020, a tour of the historic Locust Grove offered by Dr. Robert Prichard and his family, will be held as soon as conditions will allow. We look forward to visiting this Colonial-era property on the Rappahannock River in Topping as a fundraiser for the Museum.

Charles C. Green v. County School Board of New Kent County , 391 U.S. 430 (1968) by the Honorable Patricia Polson Satterfield, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York (Ret.) “When this opinion is handed down, the traffic light will have changed from Brown to Green.” – U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, 1968. The trilogy of the United States Supreme Court’s landmark decisions of Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka , 347 U.S. 483 (1954) [ Brown I] and (1955) [Brown II] and Charles C. Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia (1968), chronicles the history of the long struggle for integration in public schools. This article focuses on the enormous impact of the little known and almost forgotten case brought by Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green, a native of Middlesex County, in the name of his youngest son, Charles C. Green, who attended the black elementary school in New Kent County. It reminds some of us and informs others of the immense struggles and tremendous sacrifices of ordinary people who fought to realize the constitutional promise of equal treatment, guaranteed by the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. On July 9, 1868, soon after the ending of the Civil War and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution was ratified. It, in part, granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. It further forbid states from denying any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This amendment gave rise to many lawsuits alleging unequal treatment of the newly recognized citizens by the states in areas such as public accommodations, voting rights, transportation, medical care and treatment, and education. In Plessy v. Ferguson, Homer Plessy, who was one-eighth black, purchased a first-class ticket in Louisiana and sat in the white-designated railroad car. Plessy was arrested for violating the Separate Car Act and argued in court that the Act violated the Fourteenth Amendment. The 1896 landmark Supreme Court decision, upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation in public facilities and thereby sanctioned state sponsored segregation in nearly every facet of life under the guise of “separate but equal.” Over five decades later, that decision was overturned, due to unrelenting litigation by civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, challenging Jim Crow laws spurred by Plessy v. Ferguson . Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka [ Brown I ], a case that consolidated five lawsuits, including one challenging the closing of public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia, to avoid integration, challenged on constitutional grounds the segregation of public schools. In 1954, the Supreme Court, in the second landmark decision, overruled the “separate but equal” doctrine, upon the finding that de jure segregation, segregation mandated by law, violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Brown I, the Supreme Court expressly held that “separated educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The Supreme Court in Brown I , however, failed to define the means by which schools would be desegregated or give any guidance to localities as to how to effectuate desegregation. This it attempted to do in in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1955) [ Brown II ], in which it directed the states to desegregate with “all deliberate speed,” but set no timetable for desegregation, and left the assessment of the efficacy of implementation to the southern federal courts. Implementation was slow. After the two Brown decisions in 1954 and 1955, the State of Virginia developed several strategies to preserve segregated schools. “Massive Resistance,” a phrase coined by the State of Virginia, established an opposition movement to the Brown decision. That movement gained momentum throughout the South and led, in 1956, to an amendment of the Virginia State Constitution. That amendment granted money for private-school tuition for any student assigned to a desegregated school, and, beginning in 1958, resulted in the closing, rather than desegregating, of schools, in several localities, including Warren County, Charlottesville, Norfolk, and West Point. The school closing component of massive resistance was declared unconstitutional by state and federal courts in 1959. Continued were the evasive tactics of private school tuition grants for white students, discriminatory pupil placement laws for black students, and the “freedom of choice” plan that allowed students and parents to select, by completing a pupil assignment form, to attend either the all-black or all-white school. The freedom of choice plan resulted in minimal desegregation. At each turn, the State of Virginia was challenged by the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP that together with the National Office, and the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund sought to force implementation of the Brown decisions through the filing of lawsuits. Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green played an integral role in the ultimate demise of segregated schools. In 1956, Dr. Green, who taught in Richmond, Virginia, moved his wife and three school-aged sons from Middlesex County to nearby New Kent County, where his wife taught Home Economics at George W. Watkins High School. At the time of the family relocation, New Kent County had two high schools: George W. Watkins High School for black students and New Kent High School for white students. Similarly, the County maintained separate elementary schools for black and white students. Upon relocation, Dr. Green became very active in the local branch of the NAACP, became its president in 1960, and, in the early 1960s, began pressuring the local school board to comply with the Brown decisions. In 1964, at a meeting in Richmond, Virginia, of the State Conference of the NAACP, the attorneys for the organization discussed the recently passed Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its threat to cut off federal funding to localities that refused to develop a plan to integrate their schools. The attorneys explained to the attendees, including Dr. Green, that the passage of the new Civil Rights Act laid the groundwork for greater federal enforcement of school desegregation because Title VI forbade racial discrimination in any program receiving federal funds. It was recognized that the Act was a powerful new weapon for the NAACP that could be used in Virginia to compel the integration of public schools. The NAACP lawyers asked for determined and courageous individuals to sponsor lawsuits against their local school boards. Dr. Green immediately volunteered. The stage was set “for what would be one of the most important U.S. Supreme Court decisions since Brown v. Board of Education.” Following the New Kent County School Board’s repeated refusal to take steps to integrate the County’s schools at the request of the local NAACP and parents, a lawsuit was commenced on behalf of Dr. Green’s youngest son, Charles, who was most likely to still be a public-school student when the case ultimately was decided. Charles C. Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia , 391 U.S.430, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in March 1965, challenged the school board of New Kent County’s failure to develop any desegregation plan and its maintenance of schools that remained one hundred percent segregated ten years after Brown . The lawsuit specifically attacked the County’s 1965 “freedom-of-choice” plan. The negative reaction to the lawsuit was swift and brutal, with increased threats and intimidation against blacks. The Green family suffered severe financial hardships resulting from the school board’s refusal to renew Mrs. Green’s teaching contract. The black community of New Kent County, the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP, the national NAACP, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, notwithstanding harsh consequences, remained steadfast in their assault in the courts upon the County’s “freedom-of-choice” plan. Their resolve continued in the face of defeats in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 1966 and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, both of which ruled that the freedom-of-choice plan that ostensibly gave every student the option of freely choosing the school he or she wished to attend met the integration mandate of Brown I and II. The Supreme Court disagreed, and in 1968 rendered its third landmark decision that clearly set forth the mandate of Brown II, 391 U.S.430, 437-438: Brown II was a call for the dismantling of well entrenched dual systems tempered by an awareness that complex and multifaceted problems would arise which would require time and flexibility for a successful resolution. School boards such as the respondent then operating state-compelled dual systems were nevertheless charged with the affirmative duty to take whatever steps might be necessary to convert to a unitary system in which racial discrimination would be eliminated root and branch (citations omitted). The constitutional rights of Negro school children articulated in Brown I permit no less than this, and it was to this end that Brown II commanded school boards to bend their efforts. The Supreme Court held that the “New Kent School Board’s ‘freedom of choice’ plan cannot be accepted as a sufficient step to ‘effectuate a transition’ to a unitary system.” Instead, the Court found that “[r]ather than further the dismantling of the dual system, the plan has operated simply to burden children and their parents with a responsibility which Brown II placed squarely on the School Board. The Board must be required to formulate a new plan and, in light of other courses which appear open to the Board, such as zoning, fashion steps which promise realistically to convert promptly to a system without a ‘white’ school and a ‘Negro’ school, but just schools” [391 U.S. at 441-442]. A few years later, following subsequent Supreme Court decision rendered between 1969 and 1971, the Green decision and its progeny led to the attainment of the ultimate objective of the civil rights movement: the integration of southern public schools. The Green case that arose in rural New Kent County, Virginia, affected school systems throughout the nation. It outlined the duty of school boards to affirmatively eliminate all vestiges of state-imposed segregation and reset the Brown’s objective from prohibition of segregation into a requirement of integration. Because of Green , federal courts recognized de facto segregation, or in fact segregation, in the north that resulted in school segregation related to discriminatory policies, including housing. This recognition resulted in court mandates to northern school boards to re-fashion their desegregation plans to eliminate dual school systems as well and led to hotly contested school busing in urban areas as a means of eliminating segregation. In sum, it took many decades, but Brown v. Board of Education I and II decimated the “separate but equal” doctrine espoused by Plessy v. Ferguson that perpetuated segregation, declared that doctrine to be unconstitutional, specifically in public schools, and mandated the elimination of desegregation in public schools. It took the strength, courage and fortitude of Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green, a Middlesex County native and a product of segregated public schools in Middlesex County, together with the Virginia Conference of the NAACP, the National Office of the NAACP, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund to pursue the monumental case of Charles Green v. County School Board of New Kent Virginia, argued on April 3, 1968, one day before the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, and decided on May 27, 1968, fourteen years after Brown I, and one hundred years after passage of the Fourteenth Amendment on July 9, 1868, that guaranteed equal protection under the law. [I am indebted to Dr. Brian J. Daugherity for providing to me the following resource materials that enabled me to write this article: Allen, Jody and Daugherity, Brian J. “Recovering a ‘Lost’ Story Using Oral History: The United States Supreme Court’s Historic ‘Green v. New Kent County Virginia”, Decision,”, Oral History Review, vol. 3, issue 2, pp. 25-26 (June 2006). “Keep on Keeping On: African Americans and the Implementation of Brown v. Board of Education in Virginia,” With All Deliberate Speed: Implementing Brown v Board of Education , (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press), 2008, Brian J. Daugherity and Charles Bolton, Editors. Allen, Jody, Daugherity, Brian J., and Sarah Trembanis. “New Kent School and the George W. Watkins School: From Freedom of Choice to Integration,” Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching , Section 3: Education, p. 271. National Park Services, Department of the Interior. 2001.]

As you travel through the town of Saluda in Middlesex County, Virginia, you will find a historical marker in front of the Historic Middlesex County Courthouse. This marker signifies a paramount Supreme Court decision that set precedent for the inevitable battles against segregation that would come in the future. It was July in the year 1944. Irene Morgan was leaving Gloucester, Virginia after a visit with her mother, where she boarded a segregated Greyhound bus heading to Baltimore, Maryland, where she would be reuniting with her husband. Morgan was seated next to a fellow African American woman, a mother, with her infant upon her lap, when two white passengers boarded the bus. The bus was already quite full except for two vacant seats in the rear. The driver of the bus declared that Morgan and her seatmate move to the “colored section” of the bus in order for the two white passengers to be able to take a seat. At this time in Virginia, the law required the segregation of bus passengers. Morgan refused to move. Her argument was that Greyhound they were on was an interstate bus, and therefore, the Virginia law did not apply. After refusing to move, and even attempting to prevent her seatmate from complying with the bus driver’s request, the driver immediately drove to the jail located in Saluda, where Morgan was arrested, but not without a fight. She was charged with resisting arrest and a segregation offense. She would later plead guilty to the resisting arrest, but she would continue to fight the segregation offense. Morgan’s legal team would soon have the backing of Thurgood Marshall, William H. Hastie and the NAACP. On June 6, 1945, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled against Morgan, but still she fought. In October of 1945, Morgan and her legal team appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and this time, she won. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Morgan on the basis that the Virginia law was unconstitutional, and the law was therefore stricken along with similar laws in other states. This ruling would lead to many more battles in the Civil Right movement, and the final fall of Jim Crow law. To learn more about Irene Morgan and Middlesex’s local black history, we invite you to visit the Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society in Saluda where you will find many news articles and documents surrounding the Morgan V. Virginia case.

Education First & Foremost: The History and Legacy of the Rappahannock Industrial Academy “A compelling story of triumph over adversity” February 21, 3:00PM Email RIAcademyAlumni@gmail.com or call 804-651-8753 for Zoom Link or Dial-In Number.

When George A. Taylor first left his hometown of Middlesex, Va., and enlisted in the Army Air Forces to join the Tuskegee Airmen, he did not tell his neighbors and friends of his plans. “He never told any of them because so many of the blacks were washed out during training,” said his wife, Joan. “He didn’t want them to know, so when he did get his wings, he went home and shocked everyone.” He became one of the original members of a segregated Army Air Forces unit at the Tuskegee Army Flying School in Alabama during World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. AAC. This group of men flew more than 15,000 sorties during World War II. All during a time of segregation in our country that was even present among our military. According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Taylor flew more than 50 missions with the 100th Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group over Italy and was awarded two Bronze Stars, an Air Medal and four battle stars. His family shared these photos with the Middlesex Museum so we could celebrate his legacy!

FIRST Was Former Vice-President Al Gore’s ancestor really an early settler in Middlesex County?? Yes, his name was John Gore! SECOND Is Al Gore’s last name listed on the 1670 map of Middlesex County?? Probably Yes, former VP Al Gore’s roots start in Virginia. John Gore immigrated to Virginia as an indentured servant in 1643. The indenture was to Thomas Willoughby, on the south side of the James River. He was one of 28 people brought to Virginia for 1400 acres granted to Thomas Willoughby. It is estimated, he was born about 1630 which would make him 13 on arrival. This sounds a little young today, but was somewhat more normal in those days. He was probably of English decent. John next appears in 1658, patenting 150 acres in Lancaster County on the North shore of the Piankatank River. Middlesex County was formed from Lancaster County in 1668. Sometime before 1669 he married “Margaret” last name unknown. They had two children; Joseph in 1669, and Henry in 1671. The next event was well noted in county history. After John Gore’s death in 1674, Margaret married George Ransom who died a few years later. She then married John Ascough In 1683 Middlesex Court acted quickly to control the estates of Gore and Ransom, to prevent Margaret’s current husband , John Ascough, from selling the land and taking the profit with him to England. Thus the estates value was saved for the children. The Gore family was in Middlesex County for several more generations, also spreading to Essex County. After the Revolutionary War some of the Gore family moved to Tennessee. This is Al Gore’s branch of the family. In early Virginia Colonial Times, last names were spelled in many ways. The last name Gore was also spelled ; Goar, and Goare, likewise the name Scarborow was also spelled Scarborough and Scarburgh.. Now look at the 1670 map of Middlesex. between plantations 5 and 10. The letters Goa are spelled out. We believe this stands for Goar or Goare (Gore) last letters missing. Another name “Scarburgh” or Scarborow is just below Goa on the map. Planters John Gore and John Scarborow knew each other and their properties were close together. Gore and Scarborow were both mid level tobacco growers, of little note. Names on this map are extremely rare. We believe Gore, Scarborow, and Augustine Herrman (author of the map) somehow knew each other and had direct contact. This would be a tremendous find for those interested in the “ Map of Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited this present year 1670”, by Augustine Herrman. The only unsolved part of these two stories is the location of the Gore 150 acre plantation (farm) , and the Scarborow 300 acre plantation (farm) in Middlesex. Our best guess is south of the old main Middlesex Road (route 33 today) between today Wilton subdivision, and Pipe-In-Tree subdivision. Using the 1670 map Gore is near 5. Shooters Hill, and Scarburgh is near 6. Mottrom’s Mount (the latter includes; the golf course, Barn Elems, Bath Farm and Mariners Woods today). Anyone with better information, please contact us! Rob Warner, 434 242 3279, Deer Chase subdivision on the Piankatank and David Moran, 804 761 6136, Deltaville

On Sunday, December 13, at 4:00 PM, the Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society presented a Zoom lecture by Dr. Melvin Patrick Ely. Dr. Ely spoke about his book, Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s Through the Civil War . The book tells the story of Israel Hill, a community of liberated African Americans in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson denied that whites and freed blacks could live together in harmony. His cousin, Richard Randolph, not only disagreed, but made it possible for ninety African Americans to prove Jefferson wrong. Israel on the Appomattox tells the story of these liberated blacks and the community they formed, called Israel Hill, in Prince Edward County. There, the formerly enslaved established farms, navigated the Appomattox River, and became entrepreneurs. Free blacks and whites did business with one another, sued each other, worked side by side for equal wages, joined forces to found a Baptist congregation, moved west together, and occasionally settled down as husband and wife. Although slavery cast its grim shadow, even over the lives of the free, Israel Hill’s story is one of hardship and hope that defies expectations of the Old South. A native of Richmond, Dr. Melvin Patrick Ely is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities at the College of William and Mary.  He writes and teaches about the history of African Americans and of the South.

In the early part of the 20th  century the winters were much colder in Middlesex with lots of snowy times.  It was traditional in my family, The Mercers of Syringa, to travel by a single horse sleigh to visit relatives in the area.  The sleigh was just large enough for two—especially for my Grandparents, Garland Mercer and Frances Parker—when they were “courting” in 1918.   Over the years, the sleigh was rarely used  again for transportation but held a special place in the family when it was decorated each year for the Christmas Season.  Gifted by Marjorie Mercer Cox & Diane Cox Basheer

Oakenham was built in 1837 by Thomas Waring Fauntleroy, the wealthiest person in Middlesex per the 1860 census and still stands today near the high school. In the early 1960’s the Gray family was operating Oakenham as a Dairy Farm, and they received this card and Western Union telegram wishing them a Merry Christmas. Note the envelope is simply addressed to Oakenham Saluda, Virginia. Oakenham Home Envelope Addressed to Oakenham Telegram to the residents of Oakenham

“Winter was a wondrous time growing up at Woodstock.” “As children, we couldn’t wait for the ice to form where water would collect in the corner of the soybean field, Along a line of 80 year old crepe myrtles that lined the drive just before it circled in front of the house. We would slide around in our snow boots (who needs ice skates?!) and pull each other on the circular sled until my dad would join the fun on the tractor and drag the sled around our “ice rink”. When the snow would finally fall, we could try out our mini hills that lined the path down to the Piankatank. The winter storms that would produce more ice, made Woodstock a glittering, winter wonderland. Icicles would drip from every branch and glisten in the sunlight. The 1.5 miles driveway often had trees fall in winter storms, so we could imagine ourselves marooned on our own little farm island, till as a family we’d help dad cut up the wood and clear our path to civilization. We had 4 woodstoves that helped heat the 180 year old home; at bedtime we’d warm ourselves and then run to our bedrooms to snuggle under many layers of cozy blankets, dreaming of more fun winter days and snow days off from school!” -Lizzy Herterich

Some thirty years after the colonists landed at Jamestown the earliest Church of England on the Middle Peninsula, Piankatank Church, was built in the area of present day Hartfield. On January 29, 1666, “seventeen Vestrymen from the parishes of Piankatank and Lancaster met at the home of Sir Henry Chichley’ to combine the two congregations into a single parish and build a new “Mother” church. The newly created Christ Church Parish grew to importance in the center of the tobacco fields of the new colony and would be led by some of the most prominent and wealthy of the Cavalier planters of Virginia.” The current brick church was completed in 1714 to replace the original wooden church located in the same area. Christ Church Parish has an active congregation that enjoys worshipping in a beautiful space and using silver service pieces dating back to the early 1700’s. We invite you to visit our web site www.christchurchmiddlesex.com. Christ Church Parish Middlesex, Virginia 1666-2016 Gordon Eliot White pg 2

Photo Credit Betty Hart Robertson Hart’s Store was built by Edward Wright Hart who married Helen (Hida) Fleet in the mid to latter part of the 1800’s in Bushy (the early name for Wake.) In 1913, a 6 foot long marble and oak soda fountain was purchased for $350. Sarsaparilla was served as the beverage of choice. An in ground ice house, insulated with saw dust was located behind the store in the woods and alongside the stream that ran behind Bradley Swamp Academy. Merchandise for the store was delivered by steamboat to Mill Creek Wharf a short distance from the store. Mr. E. W. Hart had his horse back up the wagon by itself to load goods (page 224 “Signatures in Time”) while later, his 12 year old daughter, Elizabeth picked up the goods by driving the truck onto the wharf by herself. The store was demolished in the late 1960’s.

A one room schoolhouse built between 1870-1871, the Hart family in Wake donated a portion of their land to the community for the purpose of building Bradley Swamp Academy. The Bradley Swamp was named for Mr. Bradley, whom legend says lost his wagon but not his mule in the swamp where the academy was built. Billy Ransone of Wake recalled that the students nicknamed the school “Frog Eye”, because of the deafening sound of the swamp’s numerous spring peepers (frogs). “Signatures in Time , A Living History of Middlesex County, Virginia” pg 267

The Middlesex Museum would like to thank everyone who was able to participate in our virtual lecture “The Great Awakening in Middlesex County.”  We express our sincere appreciation to the Reverend Dr. Robert W. Prichard for his enlightening presentation.  For those who missed the presentation or would like to view it again, we invite you to watch the recorded version below. We hope you will join us for future webinar events. Thank you!

The Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society, The Marine Corps League Middle Peninsula Detachment #1317, and Mr. John Sharpe and Ms. Amy Earley , owners of Chesty’s former home in Saluda, will honor the late Lt.Gen Lewis “Chesty” Burwell Puller, one of the most decorated men in the Marine Corps, with a flag raising ceremony at a Park named in his honor in Saluda, Va. The ceremony will begin at 8 am on Tuesday, November 10 th , at Puller Park which is located adjacent to the museum in Saluda. The official Puller Park dedication will take place next year in October as it will mark the 50 the anniversary of Chesty’s death. https://middlesexmuseum.com/puller-park-at-middlesex-county-museum-in-saluda-virginia/

The Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society, Inc. is pleased to announce that its 2020 Preservation Award will be given to Helen Chandler of Urbanna. Since 2016, the Preservation Award has been given annually to recognize individuals or entities who have made a significant contribution to the public understanding of Middlesex County history. The Award encompasses contributions made through teaching, writing, research, historic preservation, conservation, and service. This years’ award will be presented to Chandler as a part of the Museum’s October 25 virtual lecture on “The Great Awakening.” Helen Chandler became a volunteer at the Middlesex Museum in 2008. Holding the position of Registrar, she spent countless hours identifying, documenting, and storing the Museum’s holdings. Over time, she inventoried, renumbered, described, stored, and documented more than 1,200 accessions, including items that date back to the 1700s. Helen instituted a new numbering system to correlate with the widely used PastPerfect collections software. As a result of her efforts, the Middlesex County Museum can now electronically tract its holdings. A native of the San Francisco Bay area, Helen Chandler has lived in Middlesex County for a number of years. She has been active as a school and community volunteer, and retired from Johnson Controls. Prior recipients of the Middlesex County Museum Preservation Award include Dr. Richard and Pat Marshall (2016), Jessie Debusk (2017), Larry Chowning (2019), and the Reverend Fred Holmes and the Reverend Robert Brown as members of The Black Church Cultural Affairs Committee (2019). The presentation of the award to Helen Chandler will take place during the Museum’s October 25 (4:00 PM) lecture on “The Great Awakening” to be given by the Reverend Dr. Robert W, Prichard.  To request the link and dial-in number for this program, please email the Middlesex Museum at middlesexmuseum@va.metrocast.net or call 804-758-3663.

On Sunday, October 25 at 4 PM the MIddlesex County Museum and Historical Society will sponsor a zoom lecture on the Great Awakening and Middlesex County. The Great Awakening was a mid-18th century American religious revival that was a part of a broader revival in Protestant churches in Germany, the Netherlands, the British Isles, the thirteen American colonies, and South Africa. The Awakening had a lasting effect on the shape of American life. Historians have long argued, for example, that it led to religious pluralism, shaped the character of African-American religion, cemented the common identify of the thirteen colonies as distinct from British colonies in Canada and the Caribbean, and contributed to the American Revolution. The Rev. Dr. Robert W. Prichard will deliver a zoom lecture on the Awakening and its effects on Middlesex County on Sunday, October 25 at 4 PM. Bob is the Arthur Lee Kinsolving Professor Emeritus of Christianity in America at the Virginia Theological Seminary, the former president of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church, and the author or editor of ten books . To access the lecture, sign up below for the Zoom webinar invitation.