Blackhead Signpost Road

In August 1831, after the revolt led by enslaved preacher Nat Turner, white residents and militias retaliated by murdering an indeterminable number of African Americans in Southampton County and elsewhere, including some who had taken part in the revolt and some who had not. At this intersection, where Turner's force had turned toward Jerusalem, now Courtland, the severed head of a black man was displayed on a post and left to decay in order to terrorize others and deter future uprisings against slavery. The beheaded man may have been Alfred, an enslaved blacksmith who, though not implicated in any killings during the revolt, was slain by militia near here. The road's name was changed from Blackhead Signpost to Signpost in 2021.

Virginia · United States