Community Read - Fall 2022
For our Fall 2022 Community Read, we have chosen Esmont Virginia by Andi Cumbo-Floyd.
From the author of the book: “From the Monacan Indians who first traveled the hills to the plantation owners who created their wealth on this land and the African American people whose labor was used to build that wealth to the stone-quarrying industries and the commercial communities that surrounded them, the story of Esmont is rich and very much ongoing. In this book, you will discover some of the stories that make this quiet community so important, and you may just find yourself inclined to make a visit to this rural place with roots that go deep in the stone of its land.”
Copies of the book will be available to pick up for free at these locations:
- The Yancey Community Center
- Albemarle County Department of Social Services (1600 5th St, Charlottesville VA 22902)
- Chris Greene Lake -- in Little Free Library (LFL) by the trailhead closest to the park entrance
- Charlotte Humphris Park --in LFL by the park kiosk
- Mint Springs Valley Park -- in LFL at the upper parking lot
The book is also available for purchase through the local nonprofit, Friends of Esmont.
Below, you will find two sections: Virtual Book Club and Community Forum. Please take time to explore these tools and participate in the conversation!
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Week 1: Pages 1-26
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The people of the Monacan Indian Nation spent significant time in Esmont and Southern Albemarle County, and harvested soapstone for use in ceremonial vessels.
- The Monacan Indians: Our Story, an indigenous history of the tribe written by tribal members, was Albemarle’s first Community Read. Copies of the book are available at some Jefferson-Madison Regional Library branches
- The Community Read book discussion, titled “What is an Indigenous History?,” is available for viewing on the County’s YouTube channel.
- More history of the tribe is also available on their website.
Despite the Monacan peoples’ deep ties to the land, European colonists considered the land “available” and established a land grant system to distribute title to the land. In the systems of land grants, some men were given land in the area of Esmont, Porters, and Chestnut Grove, while others purchased land, including Rezin Porter – a road surveyor and likely the eponym of Porters Road.With land ownership, several families were able to establish plantations in Southern Albemarle.- The Coles family owned multiple properties and plantations over the years including Enniscorthy, Old Woodville, Estouteville, Tallwood, and Coleswood. Prominent members of the family include Edward Coles, the second governor of Illinois, and his father John Coles II, who did business with Thomas Jefferson.
- Canaan Plantation
- Mount Warren Plantation – the home of Wilson Cary Nicholas, a governor of Virginia.
- Esmont Plantation
Did you know?
Historian Sam Towler has done research on the Harris family, owners of the Canaan Plantation, and the community enslaved there, many with the surname Carey. Some of his research in a slideshow format is available for viewing on the county website [WILL LINK].
Regina Rush, a reference librarian at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia, has written about her “genealogical quest” to find out more information about her Chestnut Grove-area family, including Nicey Ann Coles and Isham Rush. Earlier this year, Rush presented to the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society regarding her research and her scholarly article "Over the Brick Wall: A Genealogical Journey to Discover My Family’s Roots,” which was published in the 2018/2019 double volume of the Magazine of Albemarle Charlottesville History.
Reading Questions
Please share your responses in the comment section below.- What new information did you learn from reading these chapters/the book?
- What feelings did these chapters/the book evoke for you?
- What did you find surprising about the information presented in these chapters/the book?
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Week 2: Pages 27-48
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Churches began to be established, and one of the first in the area was Ballenger Church. In 1835, the church membership was almost 60% Black, and by 1855 that rose to nearly 82%. It is presumed that many of the Black members were enslaved. Other churches in the area include Mount Zion Methodist, Sharon Baptist, New Hope Baptist, Chestnut Grove Baptist, Mount Alto Baptist, Sand Road Baptist, New Green Mountain Baptist, and Saint Stephen’s Episcopal.
The Esmont area has had multiple local schools serving it. The first in the area opened in 1878 when the Black community in Porter’s Precinct built a log cabin school. Later schools include Mount Alto School, Hilltop School, Loving Charity Lodge, Chestnut Grove School, Esmont Colored School (later Esmont High School), Esmont School, and B.F. Yancey Elementary School.
Benjamin Franklin Yancey (1870-1915) was one of the first black educators in Central Virginia. Born in Howardsville, Virginia, he was educated at the Hampton Institute and returned to Esmont. Yancey helped join together the African-American men of the community and organized a school league, dedicated to establishing a school in Esmont. Along with a women’s league, they purchased the land that would become Esmont Colored School/Esmont High School. Both Yancey and his wife Harriet taught at the school.
Did you know?
Oral history interviews of Esmont residents are available online through the Race & Place project, which is an archive about the racial segregation laws, or the 'Jim Crow' laws from the late 1880s until the mid-twentieth century.
Also through the Race & Place project, transcriptions of letters from the Benjamin Franklin Yancey Family are available online. The full collection includes a wide range of letters, a diary, photographs, and other materials from the personal papers of the Yancey family from approximately 1895 to the early 1950s.
More information about Esmont-area schools and Esmont-area churches is available on the Scottsville Museum website.
Reading Questions
Please share your responses in the comment section below.- Have you read other books or articles on this topic? Please share the resources below.
- What new questions do you have about this subject after reading this section?
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Week 3: Pages 50-74
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Soapstone and slate helped Esmont grow beginning in the mid-1880s. Alberene Soapstone Company started in 1883, mining soapstone and building a company town in the area. To keep up with demand, one of the company founders decided to build a railroad. When it was finished, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ran the trains, and later purchased the line.
Later founders Daniel Carroll and Henry Lane started a slate-quarrying company in the area. Another area slate-mining company, Blue Ridge Slate, was later established and then closed after the state ordered it to abate the dust it produced.
Alberene Soapstone merged with Virginia Soapstone in nearby Schuyler, and to facilitate transport between the sites, the Nelson and Albemarle Railway Company was chartered. The Esmont Depot served as the stop in Esmont.
While the quarries continued on and off, the railroad tracks were ultimately abandoned in the 1960s.
More information on the industry is available in Garth G. Groff’s book, Soapstone Shortlines: Alberene Stone and Its Railroads shared on the Friends of Esmont website.
Growth in the area led to a bank and several general and hardware stores opening either directly in Esmont or nearby including Purvis Store, Esmont National Bank and Post Office, Lane Brother's Commissary, Pace’s Store, Esmont Inn, and Steed's Store.
Brown’s Market is the only storefront in the area today.
Did you know?
An Albemarle Monthly article from late 1979, shared by the Friends of Esmont, outlines life post-quarries.
Reading Questions
Please share your responses in the comment section below.- Do you feel connected to any of this history? What stories can you share to complement the book?
- If you were doing a “tour of Esmont” with someone who had never been to the community, what sites mentioned in the book would you show them and why?
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Who's Listening
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Public Engagement Coordinator
Phone 434-296-5841 x3274 Email sgruia@albemarle.org -
Director, Office of Equity and Inclusion
Phone 434-296-5841 x3062 Email jbrookins@albemarle.org