Skipwith-Roper Cottage returns to Jackson Ward roots
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The new Skipwith-Roper Cottage. Image: Courtesy of the123agency and JXN Project
More than 70 years after a landmark Jackson Ward property was seized to make way for I-95, the rebuilt Skipwith-Roper Cottage is returning home.
Why it matters: The public can celebrate its homecoming — and the legacy of the man who built it more than 200 years ago — this weekend with a series of events culminating in a cottage ribbon-cutting on Sunday.
State of play: The JXN Project, a historic preservation nonprofit, uncovered the story of Abraham Peyton Skipwith, the first known Black homeowner in the neighborhood that a century later would become Jackson Ward.
- Since 2021, they've worked to rebuild the Skipwith-Roper Cottage.
- With The JXN Haus next door, the nonprofit wanted to create a historic site and research space so future generations can learn Skipwith's story, and more about the neighborhood known as the "birthplace of Black entrepreneurship."
Flashback: Skipwith built his three-story gambrel roof cottage on the city's northern edge in 1793, soon after purchasing his freedom, per JXN.
- He was also one of the first known Black Virginians with a fully executed will, and he bequeathed his home to his descendants (along with money to fund their freedom).
- The cottage stayed in the family until it was sold in 1905. Roughly 50 years later, the property, and hundreds of other homes and businesses in the thriving Black neighborhood, were seized through eminent domain, forcing thousands of Black Richmonders to move.
- In 1957, the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike Authority sold the cottage for $25. Today, the original cottage sits on a former plantation where it was moved.
If you go: The Skipwith-Roper Homecoming is on Sunday, from 1-5pm at 303 E. Bates St. in Jackson Ward.
- The event includes DJs, Black-owned food trucks and vendors. Free but reserve your spot.
- On Friday, you can learn about JXN's work at "Declarations of Independence: The Story of a Black Founding Father" at St.John's Church. 6-8pm. Tickets are $25.
What's next: After this weekend, the cottage will close and make its long-term public debut this fall.