ROOTS RUN DEEP
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    • Frederick County Tour >
      • Mt. Zion Cemetery
      • Senseney Avenue
      • Belle Grove Plantation
      • Stephens City's Rosenwald School
      • Locust Grove Cemetery
      • Orrick Chapel
      • Crossroads/Freetown
      • Tokes Inn
      • Dr. Sarah Brown House
      • Winchester
    • Clarke/Warren Counties Tour >
      • Lewisville Community
      • Clifton Farm Slave Quarters
      • Bristow Community
      • Webbtown Community
      • Clermont Farm
      • Blackburn Town
      • Clarke County Courthouse
      • Josephine City
      • Josephine School Community Museum
      • Annefield Farm
      • Old Chapel
      • Little Chapel (Claytonville)
      • Browntown
      • Millwood
      • Enslaved Burials at Blandy Farm
      • White Post
      • Sugar Hill
      • Stone Bridge
      • Smoketown
      • Happy Creek Loop
      • Good Hope Cemetery
      • Ressie Jeffries Elementary
      • Front Royal Colored School
      • Warren County High School
      • Prospect Hill Cemetery
      • Freetown/Southtown
      • Mount Vernon Baptist Church
      • Williams Chapel
      • Warren Heritage Society
      • Henrico Baltimore Family Cemetery
    • Shenandoah/Page Counties Tour >
      • Mt. Zion Baptist Church and Naked Creek Colored School
      • Catherine Furnace
      • Stony Man
      • Pass Run
      • Hamburg African American Regular School
      • St. John's Baptist Church
      • Rockingham County Bronze Turkey Statue
      • French’s Fence line Burials
      • Steptoe Barber Shop
      • Jessie Rupert Schoolhouse
      • Zion Baptist Church and School
      • Durrett’s Cleaners
      • Asbury Memorial Methodist Church
      • Corhaven Graveyard
      • Calvary Methodist Church and School
      • First Baptist Church
      • Mount Jackson Colored Cemetery
      • Cemetery at Lantz Mill
      • Columbia Furnace
      • Liberty Furnace
      • Wolf Gap
      • Riverview Cemetery
      • Creekside Elementary School
      • Mt. Zion Methodist Church
      • Woodstock “Colored School” (1867-1937)
      • Spengler Home
      • Esbie Baptist Church
      • Sunset Hill School
    • Town of Luray >
      • Ulysses Simpson Grant Fry Restaurant
      • Tutt's Tavern and Home
      • Bethel Baptist Church
      • Bethany Veney Historical Marker
      • West Luray School
      • Butler's Store and Home
      • Jackson Store and Home
      • St. John Baptist Church
      • Jackie's Beauty Salon
      • Historic Andrew Jackson School Museum
      • Thomas Dougans Taxi Cab Co.
      • Tutt's Auto
      • Tutt's Upholstery and Slaughterhouse
      • Wright's Restaurant
      • Midway Inn
      • King's Restaurant
      • Earl Harris Barber Shop
      • Little Angels Daycare
      • Emmett Arthur Dougans Bridge
      • Hillside Cemetery
    • City of Harrisonburg Tour >
      • Jail Hill
      • William Strother House
      • Jeremiah Gibson Properties
      • Hite Family Home
      • Peters' Family Properties
      • The Blue Circle 30 Club
      • First Baptist Church
      • Doc Dickerson's House
      • Ida Mae Francis Tourist Home
      • Blakey's Barbershop and Upholstery
      • The Colonnade
      • Mary Awkard-Fairfax' Home
      • Effinger Street School
      • Roberta Webb's Home
      • Historic Broad Street Mennonite Church
      • Dallard-Newman House
      • Bethel AME Church
      • Miss Lena's Grocery Store
      • First Baptist Church (Present Day)
      • Johnson Street Community Center
      • Lucy F. Simms' Home
      • Lucy F. Simms School
      • Ralph Sampson Park
      • Mr. Martin’s Store
      • Harris Pool
      • Newtown Cemetery
      • John Wesley United Methodist Church
      • Edgar Amos Love Historical Marker
      • Exchange Club Park
      • Ott Dependency
      • 150 Franklin Street Gallery
      • Hardesty-Higgins House Visitor Center
      • Harry Lee's Shoe Shine Parlor
      • Rockingham County Courthouse
      • Charlotte Harris Historical Marker
      • Elon Rhodes Barbershop
      • World War I Memorial
      • Furious Flower Poetry Center
      • Harriet Tubman Cultural Center
      • Harrisonburg-Rockingham County NAACP
    • Rockingham County Tour >
      • Valley Pike
      • Smithland Historic Home
      • Long's Chapel and Cemetery
      • Wilson and Fortune Cemetery
      • Residents of Zenda
      • Pickering’s Farmland Enslaved Burials
      • Tenth Legion Churches
      • Tunker Monument
      • Moore Family Burial Ground
      • Linville Creek Church of the Brethren Cemetery
      • Issac Riddle Farm African American Cemetery
      • Bergton Fairgrounds
      • Lincoln Homestead and Family Cemetery
      • Mannheim Plantation
      • Oak Grove Church and Cemetery
      • Daniel Harrison House (Fort Harrison)
      • Rocktown History
      • Spring Creek Negro Cemetery
      • North River Baptist Church
      • Greenwood Cemetery
      • Roscoe Burgess Sr. Riverwalk
      • Mt. Crawford Community Cemetery
      • Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church and Cemetery
      • Marshall Jones House
      • Bogota Farm
      • Dungeon's Chapel and Cemetery
      • Jonathan Peale House
      • Riverbank Plantation
      • Blakey Farm
      • New Hope Church and Cemetery
      • McGaheyville's Rosenwald School
      • Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Bible Way Church of God in Christ and Cemetery
      • St. Hebron Baptist Church Cemetery and Greenwood Family Cemetery
      • St. Hebron Baptist Church
      • Mt. Paran Church Lot
      • Newtown School of East Elkton
      • St. Paul United Methodist Church and Cemetery
      • Elk Run Cemetery
      • Rockingham County Bronze Turkey Statue
    • Augusta County Tour >
      • Mount Sydney Schoolhouse No.27
      • Spring Hill Negro Cemetery
      • Fairview Cemetery
      • Kenneth L. Jones Funeral Home
      • Pannell’s Inn
      • Richmond Beneficial Company
      • Franklin T. Jones Tourist Home
      • D. Webster Davis School
      • Abbot’s Beauty School
      • Mount Zion Baptist Church
      • The Snack Shop
      • Ebenezer Baptist Church
      • Effie Ann Johnson Nursery School
      • Staunton Tribune
      • Augusta Street United Methodist Church
      • Charles L. Johnson’s Restaurant
      • Cabell Log House
      • Kier’s Tailoring and Alteration Service
      • Dr. C.J. Waller and Oscar W. Marshall
      • Colored Masonic Mount Zion Lodge No. 18
      • John Chiles Dental Office
      • The Peoples Dime Savings Bank
      • Crawford’s Barbershop
      • J. H. Gibson Grocery Store
      • Free School for Colored Children No. 2
      • James M Morris, Attorney-at-Law
      • Green Street
      • Vickers Way
      • Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church
      • Queen Miller Orphanage
      • Central Augusta High School
      • Community United Methodist Church
      • Cedar Green Negro Cemeteries
      • Augusta County Training School
      • Hunter Cemetery at Shady Oak Station
      • Smokey Row Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Montgomery Hall Park
      • T.C. Edmunds School
      • Booker T. Washington High School
      • Uniontown
      • Beverly Manor Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Mt. Marine Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Oak Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Oak Grove Elementary School
      • New Hope Churches and Schoolhouse
      • Crimora School
      • Morning Star Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • North Park Pool
      • Fairview Cemetery (Waynesboro)
      • Waynesboro’s Rosenwald School
      • Dr. Philip A. Hilton & Dr. Chavis Home and Office
      • Pleasant View United Methodist Church
      • McCutcheon’s Funeral Home
      • Abraham Hall
      • Shiloh Baptist Church
      • Elks Lodge
      • Tarry’s Hotel
      • Union Baptist Church
      • Steadfast Church of God in Christ and Cemetery
      • Beulah Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Hatton Pond Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Greenville Cemetery
      • Fannie Thompson House
      • Oak Hill Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Staunton NAACP & Waynesboro NAACP
  • Exhibit
  • Local Black Businesses
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Roots Run Deep

Harrisonburg Tour 

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This self-driving tour of the city of Harrisonburg features historic African American sites such as schools, churches, neighborhoods, cemeteries, and businesses and more. The tour starts at Jail Hill and ends at Harriet Tubman Cultural Center and covers a total of 39 sites. A significant portion of the documents important site of the historic Newtwon African American neighborhood in northeast Harrisonburg.  We wish to acknowledge and and give a special thanks to the researchers and contributors to this tour: Billo Harper, Sharon Barber, Jennifer Vickers, Monica Robinson. Robin Lyttle, and Taya Whitley for their assistance. Photos courtesy of Robin Lyttle, Jennifer Vickers, Billo Harper unless stated otherwise in captions. 
The Newtown community was Harrisonburg’s historically African American neighborhood. Following emancipation and the Civil War, Harrisonburg's free African American population began to increase steadily from formerly enslaved individuals moving to the city. They settled in the northeast section of the city, once part of the Zirkle's Addition, farmland open to residential development. This area extended from downtown Harrisonburg (East Wolfe Street and Federal Street) to the city's northeast section (East Johnson Street). ​
The first lots purchased from Zirkle’s Addition were for the Newtown Cemetery in 1869 by trustees George Hermon, Squire Polland, Jessie Banks, Stephen Hughes, and Harrison Green. Two formerly enslaved black men, Dallard and William Johnson, were among the earlier settlers who purchased land and built homes. More black residents moved into the area and bought lots of Zirkle’s Addition. The new settlement was annexed by Harrisonburg in 1892 and began to be referred to as Newtown. The African American population in Harrisonburg was 997 in 1880 and increased to 1,200 by 1920. Historic black churches, including John Wesley Methodist Church (1865), First Baptist Church (1871), and The United Brethren in Christ Church (Bethel AME Church), were established in the ear in the early years of Newtown. In 1868, a mission school was erected on Rock Street at Blacks. Effinger Street School was built in 1882 for African American children to receive public education, and the school was a center for the community. After almost 60 years of operation, a new school was established in 1939. The Lucy F. Simms School was a hub for the community as it served multiple purposes, such as social events and meetings. Over the years, more homes and businesses sprouted, including a community park and pool. Newtown grew and flourished.

In the 1960s, Newtown suffered destruction and losses. The city of Harrisonburg received funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for redevelopment through the Housing Act of 1949. The municipality declared eminent domain of homes and businesses in Newtown and forced Black families and business owners to sell and leave their properties. Hundreds of Harrisonburg citizens were displaced. This time would be known as “Project R-4” and included the area bounded by North Main, Broad, Johnson, and Rock streets. Another effort, “Project R-16,” targeted Gay Street to East Elizabeth Street. Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority had the authority over these projects. The city classified the low socioeconomic area of Newtown as slums or blighted to justify the urban renewal efforts. It was difficult for families to reestablish themselves, and they may have had to depend on the government for housing support or move away. These drastic changes diminished black entrepreneurship, property ownership, and social life. The original historic First Baptist Church was demolished and rebuilt on Broad Street. Where the Rockingham County Administration Center, Roses department store, 7-Eleven, and the Elizabeth Street parking garage are now was once lined with a vibrant community. The local government was the only benefactor of the seized properties that they then sold to commercial redevelopers instead of public use. The annual tax revenue from the area increased at the expense of pushing the out and back the black neighborhood from downtown Harrisonburg and creating an invisible wall.
 
An example of the impact of urban renewal is the loss of the home of Henry and Savilla Vickers at 138 East Wolfe Street. The 1930s federal census records show that they lived there with two young professional women who were renting rooms. The pictures below of the front and back of the home Vickers are from the “R4 Project” when workers photographed the properties. The Vickers home was beautiful and in fantastic condition yet demolished with the surrounding homes and businesses. The former house was once located approximately where a parking lot and Gamer Oasis stands today.
 
As of the September of 2023, local city officials and residents are attempting to reconnect the northeast neighborhood to downtown Harrisonburg. Through grant funding from Smart Growth America and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Community Connectors program aims to help communities across America with transportation and socioeconomic growth hindered by urban renewal projects. Harrisonburg was one of the fifteen cities selected for the grant to repair the harm done by the city. The goal is to establish trust and comfortability with the community members, businesses, and organizations in the northeast neighborhood and undergo projects to benefit the people there.
Last updated on July 23, 2024

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  • Home
  • About
  • Tours
    • Frederick County Tour >
      • Mt. Zion Cemetery
      • Senseney Avenue
      • Belle Grove Plantation
      • Stephens City's Rosenwald School
      • Locust Grove Cemetery
      • Orrick Chapel
      • Crossroads/Freetown
      • Tokes Inn
      • Dr. Sarah Brown House
      • Winchester
    • Clarke/Warren Counties Tour >
      • Lewisville Community
      • Clifton Farm Slave Quarters
      • Bristow Community
      • Webbtown Community
      • Clermont Farm
      • Blackburn Town
      • Clarke County Courthouse
      • Josephine City
      • Josephine School Community Museum
      • Annefield Farm
      • Old Chapel
      • Little Chapel (Claytonville)
      • Browntown
      • Millwood
      • Enslaved Burials at Blandy Farm
      • White Post
      • Sugar Hill
      • Stone Bridge
      • Smoketown
      • Happy Creek Loop
      • Good Hope Cemetery
      • Ressie Jeffries Elementary
      • Front Royal Colored School
      • Warren County High School
      • Prospect Hill Cemetery
      • Freetown/Southtown
      • Mount Vernon Baptist Church
      • Williams Chapel
      • Warren Heritage Society
      • Henrico Baltimore Family Cemetery
    • Shenandoah/Page Counties Tour >
      • Mt. Zion Baptist Church and Naked Creek Colored School
      • Catherine Furnace
      • Stony Man
      • Pass Run
      • Hamburg African American Regular School
      • St. John's Baptist Church
      • Rockingham County Bronze Turkey Statue
      • French’s Fence line Burials
      • Steptoe Barber Shop
      • Jessie Rupert Schoolhouse
      • Zion Baptist Church and School
      • Durrett’s Cleaners
      • Asbury Memorial Methodist Church
      • Corhaven Graveyard
      • Calvary Methodist Church and School
      • First Baptist Church
      • Mount Jackson Colored Cemetery
      • Cemetery at Lantz Mill
      • Columbia Furnace
      • Liberty Furnace
      • Wolf Gap
      • Riverview Cemetery
      • Creekside Elementary School
      • Mt. Zion Methodist Church
      • Woodstock “Colored School” (1867-1937)
      • Spengler Home
      • Esbie Baptist Church
      • Sunset Hill School
    • Town of Luray >
      • Ulysses Simpson Grant Fry Restaurant
      • Tutt's Tavern and Home
      • Bethel Baptist Church
      • Bethany Veney Historical Marker
      • West Luray School
      • Butler's Store and Home
      • Jackson Store and Home
      • St. John Baptist Church
      • Jackie's Beauty Salon
      • Historic Andrew Jackson School Museum
      • Thomas Dougans Taxi Cab Co.
      • Tutt's Auto
      • Tutt's Upholstery and Slaughterhouse
      • Wright's Restaurant
      • Midway Inn
      • King's Restaurant
      • Earl Harris Barber Shop
      • Little Angels Daycare
      • Emmett Arthur Dougans Bridge
      • Hillside Cemetery
    • City of Harrisonburg Tour >
      • Jail Hill
      • William Strother House
      • Jeremiah Gibson Properties
      • Hite Family Home
      • Peters' Family Properties
      • The Blue Circle 30 Club
      • First Baptist Church
      • Doc Dickerson's House
      • Ida Mae Francis Tourist Home
      • Blakey's Barbershop and Upholstery
      • The Colonnade
      • Mary Awkard-Fairfax' Home
      • Effinger Street School
      • Roberta Webb's Home
      • Historic Broad Street Mennonite Church
      • Dallard-Newman House
      • Bethel AME Church
      • Miss Lena's Grocery Store
      • First Baptist Church (Present Day)
      • Johnson Street Community Center
      • Lucy F. Simms' Home
      • Lucy F. Simms School
      • Ralph Sampson Park
      • Mr. Martin’s Store
      • Harris Pool
      • Newtown Cemetery
      • John Wesley United Methodist Church
      • Edgar Amos Love Historical Marker
      • Exchange Club Park
      • Ott Dependency
      • 150 Franklin Street Gallery
      • Hardesty-Higgins House Visitor Center
      • Harry Lee's Shoe Shine Parlor
      • Rockingham County Courthouse
      • Charlotte Harris Historical Marker
      • Elon Rhodes Barbershop
      • World War I Memorial
      • Furious Flower Poetry Center
      • Harriet Tubman Cultural Center
      • Harrisonburg-Rockingham County NAACP
    • Rockingham County Tour >
      • Valley Pike
      • Smithland Historic Home
      • Long's Chapel and Cemetery
      • Wilson and Fortune Cemetery
      • Residents of Zenda
      • Pickering’s Farmland Enslaved Burials
      • Tenth Legion Churches
      • Tunker Monument
      • Moore Family Burial Ground
      • Linville Creek Church of the Brethren Cemetery
      • Issac Riddle Farm African American Cemetery
      • Bergton Fairgrounds
      • Lincoln Homestead and Family Cemetery
      • Mannheim Plantation
      • Oak Grove Church and Cemetery
      • Daniel Harrison House (Fort Harrison)
      • Rocktown History
      • Spring Creek Negro Cemetery
      • North River Baptist Church
      • Greenwood Cemetery
      • Roscoe Burgess Sr. Riverwalk
      • Mt. Crawford Community Cemetery
      • Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church and Cemetery
      • Marshall Jones House
      • Bogota Farm
      • Dungeon's Chapel and Cemetery
      • Jonathan Peale House
      • Riverbank Plantation
      • Blakey Farm
      • New Hope Church and Cemetery
      • McGaheyville's Rosenwald School
      • Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Bible Way Church of God in Christ and Cemetery
      • St. Hebron Baptist Church Cemetery and Greenwood Family Cemetery
      • St. Hebron Baptist Church
      • Mt. Paran Church Lot
      • Newtown School of East Elkton
      • St. Paul United Methodist Church and Cemetery
      • Elk Run Cemetery
      • Rockingham County Bronze Turkey Statue
    • Augusta County Tour >
      • Mount Sydney Schoolhouse No.27
      • Spring Hill Negro Cemetery
      • Fairview Cemetery
      • Kenneth L. Jones Funeral Home
      • Pannell’s Inn
      • Richmond Beneficial Company
      • Franklin T. Jones Tourist Home
      • D. Webster Davis School
      • Abbot’s Beauty School
      • Mount Zion Baptist Church
      • The Snack Shop
      • Ebenezer Baptist Church
      • Effie Ann Johnson Nursery School
      • Staunton Tribune
      • Augusta Street United Methodist Church
      • Charles L. Johnson’s Restaurant
      • Cabell Log House
      • Kier’s Tailoring and Alteration Service
      • Dr. C.J. Waller and Oscar W. Marshall
      • Colored Masonic Mount Zion Lodge No. 18
      • John Chiles Dental Office
      • The Peoples Dime Savings Bank
      • Crawford’s Barbershop
      • J. H. Gibson Grocery Store
      • Free School for Colored Children No. 2
      • James M Morris, Attorney-at-Law
      • Green Street
      • Vickers Way
      • Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church
      • Queen Miller Orphanage
      • Central Augusta High School
      • Community United Methodist Church
      • Cedar Green Negro Cemeteries
      • Augusta County Training School
      • Hunter Cemetery at Shady Oak Station
      • Smokey Row Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Montgomery Hall Park
      • T.C. Edmunds School
      • Booker T. Washington High School
      • Uniontown
      • Beverly Manor Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Mt. Marine Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Oak Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Oak Grove Elementary School
      • New Hope Churches and Schoolhouse
      • Crimora School
      • Morning Star Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • North Park Pool
      • Fairview Cemetery (Waynesboro)
      • Waynesboro’s Rosenwald School
      • Dr. Philip A. Hilton & Dr. Chavis Home and Office
      • Pleasant View United Methodist Church
      • McCutcheon’s Funeral Home
      • Abraham Hall
      • Shiloh Baptist Church
      • Elks Lodge
      • Tarry’s Hotel
      • Union Baptist Church
      • Steadfast Church of God in Christ and Cemetery
      • Beulah Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Hatton Pond Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Greenville Cemetery
      • Fannie Thompson House
      • Oak Hill Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Staunton NAACP & Waynesboro NAACP
  • Exhibit
  • Local Black Businesses
  • Donate
  • Feedback
  • Press