On Thursday, September 5, Dr. Lynn Rainville presented “Black Neighbors in Gospel Hill,” the first in HSF’s new series of free educational talks related to the historic Cabell Log House. HSF welcomed more than 70 in-person attendees to the talk, and we are excited to now share a full recording of the talk for online viewing. We thank Dr. Rainville for her insightful and engaging research and presentation, from which we obtained the following information about Staunton’s African American community in and beyond the Gospel Hill neighborhood.
Despite the enduring narrative—which was partly perpetuated by local 19th-century historians like Joseph Waddell—that slavery was not prevalent in Augusta County, enslaved individuals comprised 20 percent of the regional population in 1860. In the Gospel Hill neighborhood alone, four different educational institutions depended on the labor of enslaved individuals and free Black individuals. These institutions included the Staunton Male Academy, Augusta Female Seminary (today Mary Baldwin University), the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind (VSDB), and the Eastwood school.
Slave Schedules, or “Slave Census” records, from the 1850s and 1860s evidence this history, providing documentation of individuals enslaved by Dr. J.C.M. Merilatt, superintendent of VSDB; and Pike Powers, principal of the Eastwood school; as well as individuals from other neighboring institutions, such as Maria Sheffey, headmistress of the Kalorama Academy. Although these records rarely identify enslaved individuals by name, they serve as an important reminder of and help dispel falsehoods about the presence of slavery in Staunton and Augusta County.
In addition to that of the enslaved community, life for the free Black community in antebellum Staunton presented immense challenges. Free Black individuals—regardless of whether they were ever enslaved—were required to acquire and carry extensive documentation proving their freedom. In the years following the Civil War, reports made to the Freedman’s Bureau of violence, theft, and work without compensation reflect the continued adversity many Black individuals, both locally and nationally, faced.
Edmund Cabell and Evaline Boyers Cabell, owners of the Cabell Log House recently acquired by HSF, purchased their land from A.H. Taylor, built their home, and raised their nine children amidst this difficult climate. Of the Cabell children, some died before adulthood or moved to Chicago, while others—including son Washington (who is pictured below)—stayed in Staunton.
Many Black individuals and families are recorded in the late 19th- and early 20th-century censuses as living throughout Gospel Hill, either in homes they owned or rented or with white families. Black residents of Gospel Hill worked a variety of jobs and were employed as washers, dressmakers, laborers, and plasterers, as well as in many other positions. Rare examples, like an 1891 Augusta Female Seminary yearbook featuring African American cook Chesterfield Bolden, provide documentation of Gospel Hill’s Black employees.
Spanning far beyond the geographic boundaries of Staunton, the connections of these African American families are widespread. A review of a single 1928 issue of The Staunton Tribune, Staunton’s African American newspaper, illustrates the extent of these connections. Featuring a “News of Interest” segment with news not only from across Virginia but also from states throughout the East Coast and major cities like Chicago, the issue illustrates the notable links between Staunton and many other parts of the United States, speaking to the broader significance of the city’s African American history and Dr. Rainville’s research.
