History

The Historic First Baptist Church Centralia, located off Centralia Road on a hill overlooking Chester Road, was destroyed by fire in 1996 and rebuilt to resemble the original church of 1926. (Photo courtesy of First Baptist Church Centralia).

Church endures, foundation kept strong over time

By Linda Fausz on February 18, 2021 Community, History

In 1927, The Rev. J. H. Binford led the remodeling of the first structure of what is known today as Historic First Baptist Church Centralia. Two years following the close of the Civil War, the First Baptist Church Centralia was organized under the name of the Salem African Baptist Church. The small group of members forming this church had previously worshiped with the Salem Baptist Church (white), which is located on Centralia Road, two miles south of Centralia. Nineteen years ago, around 250 members of the 800-member First Baptist Church Centralia met at their historic church to celebrate their forebears.…

Perdue Cemetery located off Osborne Road in Chester.

Cemeteries and those who care for them

By Linda Fausz on November 11, 2020 Community, History

The celebration of Halloween originated from a Catholic festival named All Hallows’ Eve, which was the day before All Saints’ Day. It was a Christian celebration to commemorate all those who died in the faith. All Saints’ Day, Nov. 1, was the day to decorate gravesites of the faithful. Over the years, cemeteries and ghosts have become synonymous with Halloween, and scary stories of cemeteries are as traditional as costumes and trick-or-treating. During the remaining 364 days, our cemeteries are places of peace and beauty, of spiritual contact between the living and the dead. Chesterfield County has a wealth of…

Point of Rocks: A place of history

By Linda Fausz on October 15, 2020 Community, History

Chesterfield County has so much history, more than what most might learn during their school years, unless one takes an interest during the college years. We celebrated Christopher Columbus this week with a federal holiday, remembering his voyages and discovery of the Americas in October, 1492. A little more than a hundred years later, colonists settled in the Citie of Henricus, or as many may call the area, Dutch Gap. We are well aware of the Civil War history all around us. For those who want to learn more of that Civil War history the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia…

Bermuda Hundred

By Mark Fausz on September 2, 2020 History

The Foundation of Our History History is like a rich vein of gold that runs through the community of Chester. A conversation with just about anyone who lives here will eventually find its way to the subject of our past. And Chester’s history runs deep and spans many centuries. It’s not just about who used to live in the old stone house or even about how Snead and Stebbins developed what we now know as “the village” in the mid-nineteenth century. The history of Europeans who lived and died working the land we now call home goes back almost 400…

POWs: Chesterfield’s hidden work force

By Mark Fausz on July 30, 2020 History

“We had a pretty good snow storm and we thought we would have a little fun with the German prisoners. We made up snowballs and started throwing them at [the POWs],” said Billy Stubbs, a Bensley resident who remembers the German prisoners once housed adjacent to what is now Defense Logistic Agency, formerly DSCR. “They responded pretty lively and started throwing them back,” he said. Stubbs relates that when the German officer in charge spotted them, he responded pretty well, too. “He didn’t think it was very funny and reprimanded us, saying, ‘This is not how we treat our prisoners.’ …

The James River, cut-through was completed in April 1865. Now, it is a shipping lane for cargo ships on their way to and from the deep water terminal in Richmond. The view of the Dutch Gap canal from photos of Bermuda Hundred in the Eastern Theater of Civil War can be seen east of Henricus Historical Park along the bluff.

River history at Dutch Gap

By VN Staff on June 25, 2020 Community, History

By Janit Potter and Walt Heyer The James River is one of the most historic rivers in the United States, with artifacts located along its shores dating back eleven thousand years. The river has always been a rich resource and heritage for Virginia and its people. From the time that Native Americans lived along the banks of the James, it was a vital part of the livelihood of Virginia, and it continues today to be an important part of the state’s economic development. Long a fertile waterway for the Powhatan Indians and other tribes, the river became the cradle of…

The Yellow House

By VN Staff on May 19, 2020 History

It’s one of the most peaceful times of the year in the little village of Chester, with spring in the air and more warm weather than cold. Usually, there are casual conversations on porches and in front of businesses in the center of the village. But not this year. It’s 1864, and we are at war, a civil war that is tearing the nation apart, and a fierce battle is raging outside of the village. As the Union forces tried to take more ground, troops battled around what the community called the Winfree house at the time. Years after the…

The church community in the 17th century

By Mark Fausz on April 23, 2020 History

Since we have been isolated the past few weeks, social interaction has been almost non-existent. Skype and other programs have been used for church services, giving a sense of community to those attending from afar. Can you imagine what living as a Christian in Colonial times must have like if you didn’t attend? No excuses. The people in Chesterfield at that time were still loyal to the Church of England. There were rumblings of a new church further up the Appomattox, but the settlers at Bermuda Hundred still attended the church at Bristol Parish, and those further up the James…

Photo courtesy of Bill Graves (1938-2018): Shields team from Dutch Gap League. 1932-1933. Vernon Dance is in the second row, third from left. Wallace Graves, manager, is in the front row, third from left. Additional members on the team were: Drewry Cheatham, Ralph Cofer, Billy Ruch, Eddie McGill, Leonard Pritchett, Dick Valentine, Billy Heintzman, Robert Pearce, Willard Crump, Clyde Crump, Jim Bohannon, M. “Country” Hudson and sponsor Courtney Shields. The photo taken in front of the home of Dr. Organ, who was the first Chester Pharmacist. His home faced what is now The Lazy Daisy.

Take me out to the ball game

By VN Staff on April 23, 2020 History

Chesterfield County Lists of Tithables, 1752 June

DAR helps preserve a historic document

By Press release on January 14, 2020 History

During 2019 Chesterfield Courthouse Chapter National Society Daughters of the Revolution worked again with the library of Virginia as part of the Library’s “Adopt Virginia’s History” program to preserve a second important piece of history – Chesterfield County (Va.) Lists of Tithables, 1752 June, that records the list of tithable heads of household in Chesterfield County for June 1752. Included within this document are individuals whose descendants still live in Chesterfield County, including the Blankenships, Cogbills, Vanns, and Vadens. In seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century Virginia, the term “tithable” referred to a person who paid (or for whom someone else paid) one…

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