Laurel Grove Colored School and Church

In the early 1880s, former slaves organized a congregation and held church services near a grove of laurel on Beulah Road. The trustees, including Middleton Braxton, George Carroll, Thornton Gray, and William Jasper, focused on educating the children of the congregation. In 1881, Georgianna and William Jasper, a former slave of William Hayward Foote of Hayfield Plantation, deeded one-half acre from his thirteen acre farm to the segregated Virginia School System for $10.00. The school served the community until 1932. In 1884, the Jaspers deeded another half acre for construction of a sanctuary next to the school.

Franconia, Virginia · United States