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Thursday Historic Church Doors #thursdaydoors

Today I found a gift!!! Completely out of new door photos due to lots of holiday travel, I found this 2022 post in my drafts folder. Not asking why I never posted it, but grateful for discovering these doors waiting patiently for me to share them. I love this very small Albemarle County neighborhood and drive these back roads anytime I’m heading for the highway. Happy Thursday to you all!

Earlier, on a Thursday Doors morning, I set out to grab photos of an ‘old’ church about ten minutes from my home. In my 20+ years here in Charlottesville I’ve passed this church many times and each time promise I’ll stop in for a closer look. And now that I have, I wish I did not wait until Thursday morning to do so. There is lots of interesting historical information about this smallish area known as Proffit Historic District.

This area was originally founded in the 1860’s by newly freed slaves following the Civil War and Emancipation. At this time, freedmen and women sought their own economic opportunities by which they could live and prosper. Former slaves Benjamin Brown and John Coles were the first African Americans to obtain land in this area. In exchange for their labor, these men claimed land from their former ‘owner’, W.G. Carr. These first founding fathers named their community Egypt and sometime later, Bethel. Then, in 1881 this community became Profitt, named after a white man, Samuel Proffit, who sold a portion of his land to the Virginia Midland Railway (now Norfolk Southern). The railroad allowed travel between Charlottesville and Orange, VA, and the new local depot was named in honor of Proffit. Proffit depot remained active until the late 1940’s when automobile travel was rising in convenience and popularity.

These doors belong to Evergreen Baptist Church, built in 1891, resting just beyond the historic marker above. Also remaining in this small area are the first houses and farms built by the Brown and Flannagan families (you can see them in the link above), a slightly dilapidating Rock Store, and depot ruins, all built on and near what was a plantation owned by W. G. Carr.

I actually took these photos a week ago and became so engrossed in my research of Proffit, I was unable to finish this post. There is so much history surrounding me here in Charlottesville I am honored to listen to and learn from the elders who are personally attached to the founding of Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Earlysville, Proffit, and other nearby communities. Here are links for more details about the village of Proffit and those who grew it up. Proffit Historic District and Proffit Historic District Timeline.

Again, I wrote this post last year and cannot understand how I never posted it. Thank you for visiting me today and I look forward to seeing your door offerings over at Dan’s and his weekly Thursday Doors challenge. Until next time…🚪

13 comments

  5. I’ve told you before that our family vacationed in your neck of the woods for years. I remember being dragged (I was a kid) from historic site to historic site. Now, I wish I had paid more attention. I also wish we had better cameras back then. This church is beautiful and the history is intriguing. Thanks for sharing it.

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