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In the 1870s black churches developed in the pockets of Stafford County where African Americans lived. Generally, the churches formed schools and evolved benevolence groups, such as the Union Branch of the True Vine, by which mutual assistance was possible. Community centers thus developed. The oldest black Stafford churches were all Baptist.  Some of them…

Reconstruction refers to post-Civil War U.S. history from 1863 to 1877; it also refers to the transformation of the American South and its states during that same period. Directed by the Federal government with the aims of restoring the formerly seceded states to the Union, reconstructing and reconciling American society, and absorbing some four million…

Reconstruction is generally referred to as the period following the Civil War ending in the return of the Southern states to Constitutional, legal and political viability. Some historians date Reconstruction from the war’s end; others date it from 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1st) went into effect and when Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was delivered…

Dr. Mary Walker was an abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, and surgeon. Mary Walker was born on November 26, 1832 and raised in Oswego, NY. Her parents, Alvah and Vesta Walker, instilled progressive values in their children at a young age – they split domestic chores equally, sheltered freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad, and…

During the Civil War, Stafford’s housing declined due to over 1,000 men serving in the Confederate army. Materials for repairs were less available and construction and maintenance standards, never good, declined. Confederate occupation was brief (one year) and respected their citizens’ property. Throughout the war, those Staffordians who remained (many “refugeed” south) lived as best…

The Virginia “gold belt” lies in a northwestern linear band from Great Falls of the Potomac River, southwest through Stafford, Fauquier, Chancellorsville, Mineral, Tabscott, and nearly to Appomattox. Stafford’s gold mines were concentrated along Rocky Pen and Horsepen Runs in the lower part of the county. Eugene C. Scheel’s excellent historical map portrays the large…

With the exception of the Eagle Mine, most gold removed from Stafford mines was dug from pits. Eagle was one of the few Stafford mines with tunnels or shafts, which were constantly plagued with water seepage. Gold was usually found as flecks in decomposing white or pink quartz. Once dug, laborers used mauls to break…

Many enslaved people lived in Stafford, but the names of most have been lost to history. A number of those who were able to leave the county and settle in Washington or elsewhere became successful. Fountain Peyton was one such man. Born enslaved in Stafford, he became a successful attorney in Washington, DC. Fountain Peyton,…

Fishing, farming, and hunting were the primary means by which people supported themselves in early Stafford. There were no grocery stores and people had to provide for their own needs and those of their families.  Nearly everyone who owned waterfront property set out nets to catch fish. These fishing operations might be small, i.e., they…

Just south of Stafford Courthouse and standing on the opposite side of U. S. Route 1 from Aquia Realty (formerly Hotel Virginia) was a brick building still known to locals as the Peoples Bank. Although it has been many a year since the Peoples Bank conducted business on this site, at the time of its…

Born Peyton Cole Hedgeman, in Widewater, Virginia in 1890, Hayden left the family at the age of 16 and went to Washington D.C. where he joined the circus. When not working, he sketched. Circus administrators turned his artwork into advertising posters. After a stint in the Army, Palmer Hayden moved to New York City working…

“The Ghost Fleet” at Mallows Bay was written by Stafford County Historical Society member, Beth Daly. In April 1917, Congress authorized funds (about a billion dollars, equivalent to $13 billion today) for the Emergency Fleet Corporation; it would be “a wooden bridge of ships” to Europe.   The keel of the first ship, the “Aberdeen,” was…