So, for all you history nerds in VA and abroad. Here is the latest situation on the Darby Farm. We think we are sitting along with the ca. 1790-1800 Pleasants-vs-Pleasants freed-slaves community of Gravel Hill. Pleasants, a Quaker in Varina, created a 350 acre free-black community for his familys former slaves that he freed. That community of several dozen free people of color were given that 350 acres at Gravel Hill - which we are next to. So this weekend, we found several mounds in the woods near our Federal earthworks, they looking a-lot like collapsed cabins from a long time ago. So, Robert Pleasants letters and ledger and all that will need to be examined - they are at W&M and the Library of VA. So, what if these mounds are the remains of that community? wow
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 19:26:17 +0000