I am starting this page to show the positive side of Petersburg Va.
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If you want something to do while in Petersburg, come check out The Petersburg Company’s tours of historic Petersburg. They have several that they do throughout the day. They even have a couple of night tours as well. The tours are available Wednesday-Sunday. If you want to book something at another time, please call them.
Come check out what we have for Fourth of July weekend!
Today is an important day in the City of Petersburg. Today is the 49th celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday as a municipal holiday in the United States. 49 years ago, the city of Petersburg, Virginia started the journey of the government (in its various forms) of the whole country celebrating his birthday and to then get to where we are today--The only federally designated National Day of Service.
I moved to Petersburg 3 years ago from Anchorage, AK. In Anchorage they have this day as the day that every attorney in town will donate time to help people navigate the legal system. Everyone comes down to Sullivan Arena and the lawyers then help people in whatever capacity is needed. Unfortunately, here in Petersburg, this day cannot even be acknowledged. Instead, there is no celebration, no Positive Petersburg Moment and no one dedicating the day to service. In a town of 85% minority that is a shame.
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the beginnings of this very important holiday. FIFTY YEARS!! How many of you knew that???
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was started here because so much of what Dr. King wanted to accomplish was started here. His Chief of Staff, Wyatt Tee Walker, was a pastor here, in Petersburg, when they first met. Mr. Walker led the very first Trailways Bus Station sit-in as well as the very first library sit-in in the nation. Both of which were the first to then be desegrated in the nation. The "schools" that were then used to teach sit-in participants how to passively react to people trying to get them to stop the sit-ins were started here in Petersburg. Dr. King came to many African American churches in Petersburg to speak as well as help to get people signed up to vote, though out his life. He would stay at a "safe house" here since black people were not allowed to stay at the motels in the area...Unfortunately, this house is privately owned and is not being well taken care of. It really is a shame that it cannot be turned into a museum. The city does own and could be taking care of the area around it...but it is a blighted neighborhood that the city prefers to just leave alone rather then come in and work on the houses there. (One across the street collapsed this past fall because of neglect, even though there are laws in the city that make not taking care of your home and not paying taxes illegal. If you do a Google search, you will discover that there are a lot of privately owned, vacant, blighted homes in Petersburg that the city continues to ignore).
Perhaps by this time next year, things will begin to change around Petersburg when it comes to this very important man. I am hoping to lead an initiative to get flags and signs out commemorating such an exciting event. I am hoping that perhaps we can have quite the celebration to recognize 50 years!! In the meantime, please check out a video that my friend Marcus Squires put together last year, as a favor to me, to show the world some of the very important Civil Rights history that comes directly out of Petersburg, Virginia. My newly adopted home and my favorite place in the whole world!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Petersburg, Virginia. Petersburg, Virginia a city with a forgotten past. The history found within this city did not just shape ...
The McKenney Foundation is turning the old library on Sycamore Street into a museum that showcases the history of Blacks in the city, dating back centuries
Basically 100 years apart…💕💕
Come see what is going on for Friday for the Arts here in Petersburg!
Petersburg was the first city in the country to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a holiday in 1973. What is Petersburg going to do for the 50th anniversary in 2023? What are we going to do to preserve the so-called Martin Luther King "Safe House" on Harrison Street that is rapidly deteriorating? The city should appoint a planning commission for this event. It would be fitting to invite President Obama and Vice President Harris to speak. It is not too early to start planning for something like this.
"Lotts" laid off for the Town of Petersburg
Petersburg, Virginia is one of the most historic towns in the United States. It has been witness to it all, from Native American history, through the Revolut...
Unfortunately, time marches on and these are the things that have been lost to time. The good thing is that someone was able to record for posterity the beautiful buildings that have been lost. That is still today an important thing to do--archive what we are still losing or will lose in our lifetime. Come check out the archiving of those that are still standing today at
Petersburg, Virginia is one of the most historic towns in the United States. It has been witness to it all, from Native American history, through the Revolut...
Check out what's happening in Petersburg!
Enjoy shopping, eating, listening to music performances, watch art demonstrations, and more at this inaugural event.
Traditionally this stone structure has been thought to date back to c. 1665 as part of the Peter Jones Trading Station, and therefore the oldest building in Petersburg. Also called the Stone Lumber House, this property was part of the original Fort Henry tract owned by Abraham Wood and Peter Jones in the 17th century. It is located at the most historic intersection in Petersburg, just south of the Appomattox River.
In response to the 1644 Indian massacre, the Virginia General Assembly in March 1646 directed that Fort Henry be built at the falls of the “Appomattocke River” to defend English settlers south of the James River. Shortly thereafter, the Indians and the Virginia colony signed a peace treaty. In October 1646, the Assembly declared Captain Abraham Wood caretaker of the fort. The current Peter Jones Trading Station site was within the tract of land occupied by the fort.
The first documentary evidence of the existence of this building is in the 1810 land tax book. In James Durell’s 1816 insurance policy, he insured a stone lumber house for $3,000. The dimensions of this building were 54 by 28 feet, the same dimensions as the current structure. In 1825, an extant document referred to this structure as the Old Magazine. It is entirely possible that this structure housed almost all of the gunpowder in the city from 1785-1791.
Between 1650 and 1674 four major explorations ended at Fort Henry, and three left from this site. Fort Henry was the southwest frontier in Virginia, and the last safe refuge for the English settlers in this area. The only places where pre-1674 English explorations began east of the Mississippi River were Jamestown, Boston, Charleston, Albany, the western Pennsylvania frontier, and Fort Henry (Petersburg). These explorations achieved many milestones, including the first English explorers to cross the Appalachian Mountains and the mid 18th century justification for the English claim to the Ohio Valley. These conflicting English and French claims led directly to the French and Indian War in North America from 1754-1763. The last of these four explorations, the James Needham and Gabriel Arthur expedition from 1673-1674, added immensely to the English knowledge of the geography and inhabitants of what became the Southeastern United States. Needham was shot and killed by an Indian west of Durham, NC and Gabriel Arthur was almost burned at the stake. The Tomahitan Indian King saved him, and Arthur accompanied him and his party on raids and diplomatic missions for 12 months. Arthur travelled 3300 miles (2500 miles on foot) touching or looking into every state east of the Mississippi River and south of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers except Mississippi. He therefore became the most widely travelled Englishman in 17th century North America.
By 1675, Abraham Wood and his son-in-law Peter Jones owned and operated a major trading operation from this site. Fort Henry “became the center of a vast Indian trade with the hinterland.” In the 1730s when William Byrd II planned the settlements at the falls of the James and Appomattox Rivers, he named the latter city Petersburg in honor of Peter Jones. The building on this site has served many purposes over the years including a trading station, magazine, prison during the Civil War, carpentry or cabinet shop, box factory and to***co stemmery.
A fire in 1980 destroyed a considerable portion of the building, which increases the difficulty of authoritatively determining its date of construction. Approximately two-thirds of the stone walls and chimney with two fireplaces remain.
Though the church is no longer active, it serves as a reminder of the storied and rich history shared by neighborhoods and their religious ties and beliefs. According to Gibson Worsham, one unique feature of High Street Methodist Church is that their temple-form church in the Gothic style was concealed behind a new asymmetrical Romanesque-style front in 1897.
Thomas Branch and D’Arcy Paul purchased site on High Street in January 1844 to build the church on this site. The first station preacher was James D. Coulling, and Presiding Elder of the District was John Early. During the Civil War, it served as one of several churches to allow temporary burials of soldiers. The original was a different style and construction that the additions designed by Major Harrison Waite and later constructed in 1897. The Romanesque-Revival addition to the front featuring the towers and vestibule. There are cathedral windows in the space. The notes regarding the construction show lofty goals by the membership, stating plans to incorporate a pastor’s study, ladies’ parlor, steward’s room, organ room, reading room, and more. The planned interiors were to incorporate steel ceilings and wainscoting, among other architectural elements. The estimate was $8,000 total and the committee spoke of a debt of at least $3,000 to $4,000. A two-story rear addition, 40’ X 40’, was also constructed around the same period and extended again in 1904. For numerous years, the church had a prominent presence in the area, offering Sunday school, regular services, and many local events and activities. In the 1980s, as membership continued to decline, the decision was made by the congregation to close and sell the property. The current structure serves as a testament to the service given by those individuals and the importance of religion in the area. (Article from Clio)
On this day in 1781 (April 24), British General William Phillips lands on the banks of the James River at City Port, Virginia. Once there, he combined forces with British General Benedict Arnold, the former American general and notorious traitor, to launch an attack on the town of Petersburg, Virginia, located about 12 miles away.
Defending the town of Petersburg from the approaching British troops was a contingent of 1,000 troops from the Virginia militia led by Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. General von Steuben had set up defensive lines of resistance, but had no real hope of victory as the Americans were severely outnumbered by the British army of 2,500 troops. After several hours of fighting, von Steuben ordered a full-scale retreat of the Virginia militia as the city of Petersburg fell into British hands. Although Petersburg was lost, General von Steuben and the Virginia militia were able to resist the British force long enough for Patriot troops to assemble and set up defensive positions in nearby towns.
General Phillips had survived three years of captivity after being taken prisoner by the Americans at Saratoga in 1777 and marching with the so-called “Convention Army”–dubbed as such because the British and Americans signed a short-lived convention that the prisoners would be released to Europe if they agreed not to fight in North America again–700 miles from Saratoga, New York, to Charlottesville, Virginia, in November 1778 (after the revocation of the Convention of Saratoga). He was released in exchange for Patriot Major General Benjamin Lincoln in 1780. Despite such earlier fortitude, Phillips died of typhus on May 13 in Petersburg, less than a month after his victory.
This is the monument in Athens, Greece that was the basis for Petersburg's courthouse tower. Ancient Greece's history and preservation impacts Petersburg's history and preservation.
The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates near the Acropolis of Athens was erected by the wealthy Athenian Lysicrates, a patron of musical performances in the Theater of Dionysus, to commemorate the prize in the dithyramb contest of the City Dionysia in 335/334 BCE, of which performance he was liturgist.
The monument is known as the first use of the Corinthian order on the exterior of a building. It has been reproduced widely in modern monuments and building elements.
Check out our beautiful court house!
Petersburg Courthouse was designed by New York architect Calvin Pollard and built between 1838 and 1840. It is a two-story, Classical Revival style brick building. It rests on a granite foundation and measures 57 feet wide and 93 feet deep. It features a pedimented hexastyle front portico and a double-tiered bell and clock tower modeled after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. Major work was performed on the structure until 1877 when extensive repairs and interior alterations were carried out. A 30-foot addition was constructed in 1965. During the Siege of Petersburg, Union troops used the tower for a sighting mark and spared the structure from the bombardment.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
HPF is going to start a new series called Petersburg: Yesterday and Today in which we will post old pictures of Petersburg sites and new pictures from, hopefully, essentially the same vantage point as the original. If you would like to participate in this project, please submit your pictures (both old and new). This picture is from Art Work of Petersburg Virginia from 1903.
Awesome tour!
The Wishing Well: An Allegory
There was a small town that had a very deep wishing well. People of the town would go to the wishing well every time they had a problem, a fear or a desire, throw in a few coins and make a wish. This tradition continued for hundreds of years.
Slowly, the town forgot about the wishing well. It was a quaint custom but was no longer fashionable to visit the well. People were busy with other things. Slowly, the well became overgrown and in disrepair. People would discard trash in the well. Some even suggested tearing it down and filling it in. Mostly, though, the well was just ignored. It might be brought up from time to time in conversation, but for the most part, people just forgot about it.
One day, the town hit hard times. Many of the shops were vacant. People were struggling to make ends meet. The town struggled to provide services to its citizens. The citizens were concerned for the future and didn’t know what to do.
One day, the citizens of the town met to discuss their future. There were many ideas of what to do but none could agree on the path forward. Finally, a very old woman stood up and addressed the citizens.
She said “When I was a little girl everyone in the town used to visit the wishing well and throw in a few coins. Why don’t we go to the wishing well?”
The crowd sneered at the old lady. These were real problems they were facing, not problems solved by childhood fantasies of a wishing well.
“What are we supposed to do?”, they asked. “Are we all to go down to the well and throw in what little money we have left into it?”
The old lady just said, “If you go to the well, I think you will find that all the coins that have been thrown in over hundreds of years are still there. No one ever took them out. Would not that money help solve our problems today?
The townspeople sprinted to the well and, to their delight, discovered all of the money was still there. They pulled out bucket after bucket of coins. Most of these coins were far more valuable because of their age. It was a fabulous treasure that the town had been sitting on for years and, in the end, saved the town from ruin.
What is the allegory?
Petersburg is the town and the treasure is our history and historic properties. Petersburg is arguably the most historic small town in the United States. We have been making deposits in the well of history for over 400 years. All of that history is still there.
Towns across the country would kill to have our history. Why? Because it is a treasure. It has tremendous economic value.
Here are some fun facts about tourism in the US and why we should care.
• Americans spent around $930 billion USD on domestic travel in 2018.
• Behind nightlife/dining, travel was voted America’s most popular choice for spending disposable income at 36%.
• Of the top 5 culture activities, 65% said they want to visit history/art museums. This was the #1 answer.
• Of overseas visitors top 5 activities: historical/cultural sights were #2 behind shopping.
Is it time to start capitalizing on our hidden treasure?
Download FREE | The Road to Freedom Tour Guide highlights Virginia’s Civil War-era African American experience, encouraging visitors to uncover these little...
Unfortunately we cannot have the regular ghost watch....Yes I have heard the horses but not the soldiers, so instead Center Hill is going to have a complete paranormal event! How cool is that? I had one at my house last year and found out all kinds of cool things about my ghosts. I even heard one talking! I cannot wait to see what happens at Center Hill!!
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