News Archives
Emily Winfree Cottage Still in Limbo!
In September 2004, City Council passed a resolution 2004-272-256, authorizing land at 1621 Broad Street, to be used to construct a new foundation for the Winfree Cottage. A.C.O.R.N. was to renovate the Cottage within 12 months and hoped that Emily Winfree's former home would be a cornerstone element of the Slave Trail planned for Shockoe Bottom. Currently, the Winfree Cottage is still on the trailer waiting for a permanent home. The City of Richmond owns much of the land in Shockoe Bottom and final decisions on the placement of the Slave Trail have not been finalized. Thus, this modest cottage is still waiting for its permanent foundation so that it can be seen, touched and experienced by all visitors to Richmond to help them understand the impact that the slave trade had on our city. A.C.O.R.N. hopes that it might, one day, be part of a larger "village" in Shockoe Bottom that will also include a reconstruction of the Lumpkin Slave Jail.
Interior Photographs of the Win Free Cottage
(by Selden Richardson ~ October '05)
“The Winfree Cottage is a window onto Richmond's cultural history, illuminating relationships between blacks & whites heretofore hidden and ignored. From this modest 800 square foot cottage we have learned about the intersection of the lives between master and slave, black and white, rich and poor - much of which contradicts a historically stereotypical understanding of race relations in the South. This piece of history must be honored and we long for the opportunity to move ahead and restore the house so that this incredible story can finally be told.”
-Jennie Dotts, Executive Director ~ Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods
A.C.O.R.N.
422-2148
info@richmondneighborhoods.org