Women’s History Month: State Historical Marker To Be Dedicated For Old Folks Home In Essex County

RICHMOND

A state historical marker approved by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) will be unveiled this weekend for The Old Folks Home, a facility in Essex County that offered care and boarding for poor, elderly Black people in the early 1900s.

The dedication ceremony for the marker will be held Saturday, March 29, at 12 Noon, at the marker’s location across Route 17 from 28882 Tidewater Trail, Dunnsville, Virginia (22454). Limited roadside parking will be available at the dedication site. Guests may also find parking at Angel Visit Baptist Church at 29566 Tidewater Trail, which is less than a mile away from the dedication site. Free shuttle service is available from the church to the site beginning at 11 a.m. This event is free and open to the public.

The Woman’s Baptist District Missionary Convention opened The Old Folks Home in Essex County circa 1909 to provide care for impoverished elderly Black people, some of whom had been enslaved and did not know their families. The Home was supervised by a live-in matron and an all-woman trustee board. It offered its residents life essentials as well as end-of-life arrangements. Funded by churches, individual donors, and timber sales, the Home operated for approximately 30 years, through the late 1930s. It exemplified a nationwide social reform that began in the late 1800s in which charitable groups, often led by women, established residences for the indigent elderly as alternatives to public almshouses. During its years of operation, The Old Folks Home – like other residences for senior Black people – experienced the effects of racism and poverty.

The Old Folks Home was unique in that it provided a home and care to elderly African-Americans long before the concept of a nursing home or adult home was widely known.  The Old Folks Home cared for them in life and in death, arranging burials for some of them on the grounds of the Home.

The seven founding trustees and six women who later became trustees of the Old Folks Home will be recognized at the dedication. Old Folks Home founding trustees were Martha Ellis Braxton (1875-1918) of Lancaster, Rosa Wheeler Cauthorne of Ozeans (now Dunnsville), Sallie Page Gaines (1856-1956) of Walkerton, Mary Ann Harris (1865-1945) of Urbanna, Mattie Gatewood McGill (1875-1932) of Church View, Mary Eliza Cook Moody (1874-1937) of Jamaica, and Susan A. Jackson Smith (1863-1941) of Gloucester.

Subsequent trustees of the Old Folks Home were Ida Smith Cauthorne (1884-1965) of Ozeana (now Dunnsville), Naomi Harris Dabney (1888-1967) of Fredericksburg, Mary Payne Harris (1875-1944) of Harmony Village, Mary Brook Jones (1888-1990) of Indian Neck, Fannie Smith Turner (1886-1947) of West Point, and Williana Stewart Williams (1876-1961) of Little Plymouth.

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Essex residents Ida Wheeler Bayton (1859-1931) and Etta Shelton Cauthorne (1881-1950), both of Ozeana, served as live-in matrons at the Old Folks Home.

Descendants of the seven founding trustees of The Old Folks Home and descendants of the six later trustees are expected to be in attendance at the ceremony and will lead the unveiling of the marker. A post-dedication public reception will take place at Angel Visit Baptist Church, located at 29566 Tidewater Trail in Dunnsville.

The Reverend Dr. Carla E. Lightfoot, moderator of the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association and pastor of Angel Visit Baptist Church, will preside over the dedication. The Reverend Dr. Maurice Dabney Finney and Bessida Cauthorne White, both who are descended from a founding trustee and a subsequent trustee, will speak on the program.  Dr. Leonard Edloe, pastor of New Hope Fellowship in Hartfield, will deliver the principal message.

The Virginia Board of Historic Resources, which is authorized to designate new state historical markers, approved the manufacture and installation of the Old Folks Home historical marker in December 2023. The marker’s sponsor, the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association, covered its manufacturing cost.

Marker: The Old Folks Home

The Woman’s Baptist District Missionary Convention conceived the Old Folks Home in 1894 and opened it here ca. 1909 to care for aged, destitute Black people, some of whom had been enslaved. Under the supervision of a live-in matron and an all-woman trustee board, residents were afforded life essentials as well as burial. Churches, individual donors, and timber sales provided funds for the Home, which operated for about 30 years. The Home exemplified a nationwide social reform that began late in the 1800s as charitable groups, often led by women, founded residences for the indigent elderly as alternatives to public almshouses. Homes serving Black elders coped with the ills of racism and poverty.

Sallie Edwards Page Gaines

Rosa Ella Wheeler Cauthorne

Mattie Jane Gatewood McGill