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In 2020, the Brown Grove Preservation Group was formed to protect the rights of the community. Through our work, The Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the US National Trust for Historic Preservation granted the status of state and federal historic landmark registry to the Brown Grove Rural Historic District, only the second Free Black-built community in Virginia to hold this designation.
The Brown Grove community was established in 1870 by formerly enslaved people who built a church, school, homes, and businesses.
We are one of the oldest continuously inhabited African American communities settled by formerly enslaved people, with the descendants still living in the community. Hanover County has routinely targeted us to host facilities with negative environmental impacts, including Interstate-95, Hanover County Airport, a landfill, a concrete plant, a truck stop, and now, Wegmans distribution center. This makes Brown Grove one of the heaviest polluted neighborhoods in Hanover County. This is the essence of environmental injustice.
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Caroline Dobson Morris,
Founder of Brown Grove
In 2020, the Brown Grove Preservation Group was formed to protect the rights of the community. Through our work, The Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the US National Trust for Historic Preservation granted the status of state and federal historic landmark registry to the Brown Grove Rural Historic District, only the second Free, Black-built community in Virginia to hold this designation.
It is an excellent example of the rural landscape of African American heritage that grew from the plantation economy to a self-sufficient agricultural community and transitioned into a middle-class residential neighborhood in the twentieth century. We continue to block all things harmful to our environment state of well-being.