Farmville, Virginia-2

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Friday was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm, but not hot. Julia drove the three of us over to the Longwood campus at 10:00 a.m. The program began with a talk about the university’s programs, followed by a tour of the campus. Longwood is now a general public university, but was founded in 1839 as a college for women. It became a state teacher’s college in 1884—then called the State Normal School. (Normal School was the usual name for teacher-training colleges in the 19^th century.) The name Longwood was later taken from the 18^th century plantation house that now serves as the university president’s home. The campus is a mix of buildings dating to 1839 together with newly completed Science Building and a new Fitness Center and a Communications/Theatre Arts building under construction.

Not far from here is the R.R. Moton High School historic site. The high school, once on the edge of the town, was the school for African-American students in the time of segregation. In 1951, the students staged a demonstration to protest the overcrowded and substandard conditions at the school. The resulting lawsuit was incorporated into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education anti-segregation case. (Farmville and Prince Edward County were at the forefront of "massive resistance" to school integration in the 1950s.)

Up the street from the former Norfolk & Western station, one finds the Virginia historical marker for Bizarre. (The state historical marker, dating from 1929, is a vintage item itself!) The marker tells of the existence of this curiously named estate and of the Randolph family that owned it. (It is said that “Bizarre” can also mean in French.) But, it doesn’t tell of the early American scandal that took place there in 1792. Ann Cary, a relative of the Randolph and Jefferson families, had come to live at Bizarre with her sister and brother-in–law, Richard Randolph, a few years earlier. Rumors spread that Ann and Richard were having an affair, seemingly confirmed by her pregnancy. Richard stood trial for murdering the child, but was acquitted for lack of evidence. (Ann later stated she miscarried.) Richard died under mysterious circumstances in 1796 and Ann lived at the house with her sister, under a strained relationship, until 1805. Bizarre burned in 1813. (Ann later married Governour Morris of New York, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.) It is said that “Bizarre” could have referred to a root meaning "brave".

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Photos

Welcome to Farmville Sign
P1050269p1

Lancaster Hall
Lancaster Hall, Longwood University. Administration building. P1050236p1

Ruffner Hall
Ruffner Hall, Longwood University. Built in 1839 and gradually expanded along with the school over several decades, to eventually include its iconic rotunda dome, until its completion in 1907. Rebuilt in 2002-2005. Renamed The Rotunda in 2019. P1050244

Ruffner Hall Rotunda
P1050237

The Colonnade
The Colonnade covered walkway at Longwood University. P1050249p1

Two-Headed Trojan Ducky
Double rubber duck sculpture on Brock Commons on the campus of Longwood University. Sculpture by Rob Nelson in 2004. The sculpture was displayed at Longwood University in 2007-2009.
P1050239

Robert Russa Moton High School
Former Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville. The school opened in 1939 as a segregated high school for African-American students. In 1951, a two-week protest led to a desegregation case that was joined with four other cases decided by Brown vs. Board of Education. Later used as an elementary school. Now the Robert Russa Moton Museum. National Register of Historic Places 95001177.
P1050268p1

North Main Street, Farmville
P1050266p1

Farmville United Methodist Church (1902)
Farmville Historic District. National Register of Historic Places 89001822. P1050251

Johns Memorial Episcopal Church (1882)
Farmville Historic District. National Register of Historic Places 89001822. P1050255

Family Civil War Memorial
Dedicated in 1900.
Farmville Historic District. National Register of Historic Places 89001822. P1050247

Bizzare Plantation Historical Marker
P1050260

Norfolk & Western Station
Norfolk & Western Railway station (1903) at Farmville, VA. Adaptive reuse as a community center. Farmville Historic District. National Register of Historic Places 89001822. P1050276p1

Cunningham and Company Tobacco Prizery
Once the Cunningham and Company tobacco prizery. Adaptive ruse as the Southern State Cooperative.
"The most prominent examples--the warehouses of the Dunnington Tobacco Company and Central Virginia Processing, Inc. on First Street, the former Craddock-Terry Shoe Company on North Main street, and the former Cunningham and company tobacco prizery (now the Farmers Cooperative, Inc.) on West Third Street--represent one of the best turn-of-the-century tobacco warehouse complexes in Virginia".
Contributing resource, Farmville Historic District. National Register of Historic Places 8900. 1P1050278