News Archives
Emily Winfree Cottage Saved!
Two Manchester residents ran into A.C.O.R.N.'s office in October of 2002 declaring that the cottage of a freed slave was about to be demolished for the expansion of a parking lot at 209 W. Commerce Road. A bit of quick research did indicate that this humble dwelling did indeed belong to Emily Winfree. Emily was the slave of David Winfree, a wealthy landowner that lived in Manchester at the time of the Civil War - and with whom he had five children. After the War, David Winfree purchased this modest two-room cottage for Emily in 1866 for the price of $800. Winfree - now an emancipated woman after the war, raised her five children in one room and rented out the other for a bit of income.
A.C.O.R.N. knew that this cottage ultimately would need a home and thought an appropriate final destination might be along the Slave Trail planned for expansion into Shockoe Bottom. In September 2004, City Council passed a resolution 2004-272-256, authorizing land at 1621 Broad Street, to be used as a permanent site to construct a new foundation for the Winfree Cottage. Final plans for the Slave Trail through Shockoe Bottom are the current focus of the Richmond Slave Trail Commission. It was decided that the Broad Street location might be out of context and too busy a location for visitors to truly appreciate this living artifact so a permanent location of the Winfree Cottage is still pending final plans of the Richmond Slave Trail.
With the full excavation of Lumpkin's jail now underway, this modest cottage awaits a 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's Slave Jail.
Interior Photographs of the Winfree Cottage
(by Selden Richardson ~ October 2005)
“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, Former Executive Director ~ A.C.O.R.N.
A.C.O.R.N.
(804) 644-5040
info@richmondneighborhoods.org