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In April 1941, the Falmouth Volunteer Fire Department became Stafford’s first fire department. For the next five years, the Falmouth Fire Department would be housed in a 24 foot by 50-foot building near the intersection of Cambridge Street and Warrenton Road. The membership elected WP. “Bill” Quesenberry Fire Chief, Perry A. Thompson President, EC. Hedrick…

Discover Stafford’s African American History The Stafford County African American Heritage Trail (SAAHT) driving tour was created by Discover Stafford and the African American Heritage Advisory Committeeworking with UMW Geography Department, to highlight the stories about the deep history of the Black population in Stafford County. Over 20 locations and countless stories that showcase the…

SCHS News

The document below contains abstracts of free negroes and slaves in Stafford County Court Minutes and Order Books covering 1790-1793, 1806-1809, 1825-1827, 1830-1835, and 1852-1867.  The document was compiled by Joan W. Peters, C.G.R.S. Stafford County African Americans 1790-1867

In 1871, Frederick Douglass and his son rode to Alexandria aboard the mail steamer Georgeanna enroute to the first issue of his newspaper, The New National Era. Douglass believed in the importance of the black press and his leadership role within it, despite the struggles of his and others earlier black news enterprises. The Georgeanna was…

In early 1863, Dabney Walker and his wife Lucy Ann approached the Union lines near Falmouth, having escaped from a farm in Spotsylvania County where they were enslaved. It remains uncertain if Dabney Walker and Dabney, “The Black Scout of the Rappahannock” are the same individual. However, it is evident that the Walkers became invaluable…

Union Bell Baptist Church was organized October 28, 1922, in White Oak.  In Fredericksburg, soon after the Civil War, members of the African Baptist Church resumed meetings in houses and a warehouse. Union Bell began the same way in an old lodge before erecting. What started as a lodge hall is now the driveway of…

Located on what was once the Sanford Farm is a newly preserved and rebuilt building that was once home to an enslaved family. Called the Sanford-Burgess Slave Quarter, it is one of the few examples of housing for enslaved peoples in Stafford County. The Sanford-Burgess Slave Quarter is a one-and-a-half-story log cabin built around the…

From the 1720s until about 1800, Falmouth served as a primary shipping point for goods coming and going from the upper Shenandoah Valley.  The town’s proximity to vital water power facilitated the growth of post-Revolution commercial flour and textile mills. Falmouth’s industries supported a wide range of skilled and unskilled workers.  The town included businesses…

In early September of 1963, a wood-framed house owned by the Baker family, which consisted of the two Baker parents and their ten children, caught on fire. It started while the Baker parents were at work, and 4 of the 10 children were at school. Nearby neighbors were the first to notice the blaze and…

On August 28th, 1966 the Klu Klux Klan held what would be the first of four rallies in Stafford County. The goal of these rallies was to raise support and money for the Klan’s prejudice and hateful cause in Northern Virginia, with the Klan actively trying to get money and donations from attendees. The first…