Public acknowledgement of the presence of slaves at Solitude, the pretty, pre-Civil War-era house on the Virginia Tech campus, has not been a significant or frank part of that site’s narrative, but, on June 15, the Department of Appalachian Studies, working with other departments and offices at Virginia Tech, will take a step forward in changing that through a set of events intended to bring the African American experiences at Solitude to the fore.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Friday, June 15, on the grounds of Solitude (705 West Campus Drive) “Gospel, Old Time, and Soul Food: African American Experiences at Solitude” is being presented as one of the 70 cultural events in this summer’s Crooked Road Mountains of Music Homecoming events that are showcasing southwestern Virginia’s arts and humanities through jam sessions, quilting demonstrations, storytelling, dances, outdoor adventure, river trips, community meals and theatre.
At Solitude this Friday all “Gospel, Old Time, and Soul Food: African American Experiences at Solitude” events are free and open to the public.
Beginning at 10 a.m., tours of the house and grounds, revised to recognize and embrace the central African American role will be led by Director of Appalachian Studies Dr. Anita Puckett and Ms. Kerri Moseley-Hobbs, a direct descendant of the enslaved Thomas Fraction.
The tours will be followed by free soul food at 11:30. Gospel music from local African American churches will follow with opportunities for the telling of stories about local history.
“Enslaved African American workers, probably from Smithfield, labored on the plantation from the beginning, but no record exists that they lived on site until the 1840s when the small house, currently called the “outbuilding” was constructed,” Dr. Puckett wrote in a letter announcing the event. “Records also indicate that 10 slave cabins were built along side Stroubles Creek on the west side of Solitude about this same time. The 1860 census indicates Robert Taylor Preston “owned” 33 enslaved persons.”
The small white building beside larger Solitude, which has until now been refered to as the “outbuilding “may have been was, as best we can tell, occupied by enslaved persons before the Civil War” according to Puckett and, at 3 p.m. that building will be rededicated.
The proposed building name “The Fraction Family Cabin,” in honor of that family and other enslaved people who lived at Solitude, will be announced pending formal university approval.
Also happening that day will be blacksmith, weaving, spinning, corn-shuck doll making, and herbal medicine demonstrations. African artifacts from the Yoruba culture provided by Ms. Moseley-Hobbs will also be on display, as will artifacts and memorabilia from the African-American community museum in Wake Forest here in Montgomery County.
“The word “Solitude” can connote a sense of isolation or a sense of self-reflection. In this case, it refers to the oldest building on the Virginia Tech campus. A structure that is located next to the Duck Pond, Solitude was first a two-room log cabin built circa 1803 by Philip Barger, Jr., a survivor of the Drapers Meadows massacre in 1855,” Dr. Puckett wrote.
The house was then acquired by the Preston family and occupied by Glanville Smith, the deceased William Preston’s brother-in-law from Richmond, for several years as he assisted his sister, Susannah Preston, in the running of the extremely large and nearby Smithfield.
“One can easily imagine that Glanville, who named the building “Solitude,” was delighted to get away from the bustle of Smithfield with its 40-60 enslaved persons, indentured servants, Susannah’s children, their spouses, and her grandchildren, in addition to the social and economic activity of a major plantation on a daily basis,” Puckett wrote.
Puckett points out realities overlooked by the traditional narrative of Solitude’s social and architectural history as the Preston family grew.
“They added on to the house,” she writes, “or, rather, slaves added on to it, in about 1835, creating six rooms instead of two. It was further added to in the early 1850s, giving it its current architectural ambiance.”
After the Civil War, Robert Taylor sold the house and lands to the Commonwealth to create Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, which is now Virginia Tech.
“Therefore, Solitude is the “homeplace” of the University,” Puckett wrote.
“Gospel, Old Time, and Soul Food: African American Experiences at Solitude” tells a fuller history of that homeplace.
For more information, contact Dr. Anita Puckett at apuckett@vt.edu or (540) 239-3600. Free parking is next to the site.
