Explore Charlottesville and Albemarle County's Black History

Stay in the heart of Charlottesville at the Black-owned 10th Street Bed & Breakfast. The charming accommodation is walking distance to the University of Virginia Grounds, as well as shopping and dining options along West Main Street.

While you're on West Main Street, make a stop to dine at The Ridley. Owned by restaurateurs Warren Thompson and Ron Jordan, the restaurant is part of the Draftsman Hotel and named after Dr. Walter Ridley, the first Black student to graduate from UVA and receive a graduate degree from any major historically white public university in the South. Thompson and Jordan opened the restaurant with the vision of it becoming a gathering place where African-American students and UVA Black Alumni could dine with pride. The Ridley menu offers delicious Southern fare, upscale cocktails, and fresh seafood dishes like shrimp and grits and Virginia oysters.

After your meal, continue on to the historic pedestrian Downtown Mall. One of the most popular places to explore in Charlottesville, the Downtown Mall was established in the 1970s by Charles Barbour, Charlottesville's first Black Mayor, who wanted to transform a section of Main Street into a bustling pedestrian mall. See his dream fulfilled when you visit the shops, restaurants, and attractions along the Downtown Mall today. Be sure to pop over to IX Art Park to check out the 'Dreamin' Queen' mural -- painted in 2022 by local artists Laura Lee, Jae Johnson, and Chicho Lorenzo.

Bonus: for a more comprehensive list of local Black-owned businesses, take a look at United Way of Greater Charlottesville's Black Business Guide. This guide includes a wide range of categories, from restaurants and retail to faith communities and automative services in the area.

Jefferson School African American Heritage Center

The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (JSAAHC) serves as a historic site, museum, event venue, and community gathering space all in one. Located within the historic Jefferson School City Center, the JSAAHC maintains a calendar of programming and events. They're also home to the Charlottesville Players Guild, a Black Theater committed to pieces written and performed from the Black perspective.

The Heritage Center's permanent exhibit, Pride Overcomes Prejudice, connects the past to the present. The exhibit showcases stories and contributions from Black families, business owners, educators, and activists, and how they shaped the Charlottesville area as we know it today. As of September 2024, their next installment in the exhibit, Towards a Lineage of Self, is available for viewing. This map-based exhibition tells the origin stories of historically Black neighborhoods and paints a vivid picture of the first families to settle there.

First located on West Main Street, The Jefferson School opened as a Freedman's School in 1865 before it moved to its current location on 4th Street NW — the area that would evolve to be the center of African American social and commercial life. The Jefferson High School opened at the site in 1926, consolidating Black education into one area and operating as the only Black high school in the city until 1951.

The JSAAHC opened in 2013 as an anchor tenant of the Jefferson School City Center which is also home to the city's Carver Recreation Center, the YMCA Early Learning and Preschool Program, Pearl Island Catering, and more. JSAAHC is wheelchair accessible, ADA compliant, and offers free parking at an adjacent lot.

Jackson P. Burley Middle School

Jackson P. Burley High School, now known as Jackson P. Burley Middle School, is located just outside of Downtown Charlottesville on nearby Rose Hill Drive. The educational institution was jointly purchased by Charlottesville and Albemarle County in 1949 to provide a nominally equal but segregated High School for Black youth. The agreement between the county and the city resulted from overcrowded and insufficient facilities for Black youth in both jurisdictions.

The school was built on a 17-acre tract of land, purchased from the widow of Jackson P. Burley, a prominent educator, active church worker, and distinguished leader in the Black community.

Burley High School opened for classes in September 1951, with a total of 542 students enrolled in its first year. It graduated its last class of seniors in 1967, eight years after school integration began in Charlottesville.

Although it has undergone several additions and alterations, the school retains its original architectural integrity. Information about the school's history and students can be found outside the building. We encourage visitors to explore the exterior of this building, but to do so on the weekend or after school hours, as this is an active school.

Charlottesville Court Square

Located just steps from the Downtown Mall, Court Square has several plaques that offer a deeper connection to the complex history of Charlottesville. The markers serve to commemorate the horrors of Court Square, which, between 1762 and 1865, served as a place for auctioneers to sell hundreds of enslaved men, women, and children.

Vinegar Hill

One of the earliest neighborhoods in Charlottesville, Vinegar Hill, also referred to as "Random Row," became a thriving Black neighborhood post-Civil War. While the city remained segregated, Black-owned businesses flourished in Vinegar Hill -- more than a quarter of the homes and business properties were Black-owned.

In 1965, the city of Charlottesville voted to raze the entire community in what was described as an urban renewal project. The neighborhood's site is now home to the Omni Hotel and surrounding development.

Throughout the years, the names "Random Row" and "Vinegar Hill" have been used by businesses in the area where the neighborhood once stood, in an effort to memorialize its history. Amongst them are Vinegar Hill Magazine, an excellent resource for learning about contemporary Black voices and stories in the area.

Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm

Just minutes from Downtown Charlottesville, the Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm is an official stop along the National Park Service's Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.

The property dates back to 1870 when Mr. Hugh Carr, a formerly enslaved person, purchased the land as a family farm. Hugh Carr later passed the property on to his daughter, Mary Carr, and her husband Conly Greer, and the land became known as River View Farm. The couple furthered River View Farm's rich social and agricultural history and are celebrated for their significant contributions to Charlottesville's African American community.

River View Farm was in the Carr and Greer families for a century before becoming the Ivy Creek Natural Area. Visitors can take the River View Farm tour or participate in monthly talks and programming exploring the history of the Carr/Greer family. You can also explore the property's 215-acre nature preserve with seven miles of trails. Ivy Creek has 3/4 mile paved, wheelchair accessible trail with free parking on-site.

Monticello

Much work has been done in recent years to tell a more complete story of Thomas Jefferson’s mountaintop estate, Monticello, and the 600+ African Americans who were enslaved there by the former President. One result of this work is the From Slavery to Freedom Tour, a 2.5 hour tour offered Friday-Sundays in the winter, as well as the new Contemplative Site which invites visitors to read the names of enslaved peoples at Monticello and honor their contributions to this historic site.

Monticello has also launched the Getting Word African American Oral History Project. This virtual exhibit includes more than 100 interviews aimed at preserving the stories of Monticello's enslaved families and their descendants.

Monticello offers wheelchairs (first come, first serve), wheelchair-accessible shuttle vehicles, sign language interpreters (two weeks-notice needed), accessible restrooms, accessible parking spaces, and more. Some areas of Monticello are not accessible for guests in wheelchairs, due to its location on a mountaintop and because of interior doorway sizes.

Highland

James Monroe’s Highland unveiled its A Window to a New America exhibition in 2024. Telling the stories of the people and events at Highland and their connections to U.S. history, these exhibits explore the rich content of Monroe's Albemarle County property. New content covers approximately 3,000 square feet of exhibition space and completes the first major revision of the visitor experience since the 2016 announcement of the discovery of the Monroes’ main house built in 1799. Visitors can expect continued updates of museum content, including the interactive Unfinished Revolutions gallery, as we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

Downtown Charlottesville

The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society offers guided tours year-round, including a number of routes that highlight historic Black individuals and communities.

Common House Black History Tour: Created with support from the Common House social club, this 2-hour tour focuses on the history of local Black communities and includes stories of enslaved people, free Blacks, individuals and families with complex racial identities, segregation, and more.

Black Barbers of C'ville: A 1-hour tour focuses on the stories of individual Black barbers in Charlottesville during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. This tour visits locations of their barbershops and explores the barber's pivotal roles in both Black and White society, influence during the Jim Crow Era, and involvement in the Civil Rights movement.

Between Slavery & Freedom: This 1.5-hour tour tells the stories of free Black individuals during the era of slavery and how they were able to exploit the cracks in the system. Visitors will also learn more about the evolving nature of racial oppression and the rare instances when strict social hierarchy was not so strict.

The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society also offers seasonal tours. Contact Sterling Howell at programs@albemarlehistory.org or (434) 296-1492 to learn more and schedule a tour.

University of Virginia

In addition to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia, another institution with a complex racial history. The self-guided African Americans Walking Tour takes visitors around Grounds and introduces you to some of the people, places, and stories related to early African American life at the school. In addition, the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers can be visited 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and serves as a tribute to the enslaved individuals and families who built and maintained the University of Virginia. The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers is ADA accessible, although there is limited parking available nearby.

Although the Black story in Charlottesville and Albemarle remains largely untold, a number of resources exist for visitors to utilize when exploring the area. These self-guided tours provide visitors with a broader understanding of the history surrounding enslaved, emancipated, and free Black individuals in the area.

Heritage Trails offers trail maps for visitors to take a self-guided tour through two historical African American neighborhoods: Starr Hill and Union Ridge.

Beloved Community Tours offers virtual tours of significant Black historical sites throughout the area that can be listened to while visiting in-person or online from anywhere in the world. Tour sites include Burley Middle School, Court Square, Vinegar Hill, Washington Park, and more.

The Charlottesville area was named Wine Region of the Year in 2023 by Wine Enthusiast and we're proud to be home to a dynamic and inclusive wine scene that's writing a new story in Virginia wine. Local wine collectives like Oenoverse are leading the way with scholarships and programming that support emerging wine professionals from under-represented backgrounds. Their annual festival, Two Up Wine Down, was recently recognized by Wine Enthusiast as one of the best wine festivals in America! The festival is an inclusive day of tastings, conversations, and connections that shine a spotlight on BIPOC wine professionals, enthusiasts, and allies.

Explore our award-winning wine scene and support Black-owned businesses by taking advantage of these opportunities:

• Schedule a wine tour or personal tasting with Black Women Who Wine or Harmony Wine.
• Book with Shaniece Be Just Be Well for a luxury picnic experience at an area winery.

Get the most out of Black History Month in Charlottesville and Albemarle County by booking a stay. Whether you’re searching for a hotel that is walking distance from UVA and the Downtown Mall, or a quiet cottage near one of our area’s stunning wineries, choose from a wide array of beautiful accommodations. Use the map on our “Places to Stay” page to help locate your perfect stay.