HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Two historical markers were unveiled to honor a cornerstone of the African American community in Varina that began to take root ten years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Dozens gathered for the unveiling of the county historical markers on St. James Road in eastern Henrico County on Saturday.
One of the markers tells the story of the St. James School, which taught first through seventh grade to African American students, between 1910 and the mid-1950s.
The building sat on 37 acres of land bought in 1873 by John and Polly Jeter. The couple saved one acre for a school.
Among its pupils were descendants of the Jeters, including 91-year-old Gracie Jeter White, the couple's great-granddaughter and last of her generation.
"The school that I went to 85 years ago when I was six years old," she said. "Just being there and learning and loving each other and doing what we could for each other."
White, one of the speakers at the event, regaled the crowd with anecdotes.
"That pump was in you had to prime it to get the water. The best cold water you've ever tasted in your life," White recalled.
The other marker tells the history of the St. James Cemetery and Hall across the street. The property was bought for $50 by four men from the Star of Benevolence Society in 1876.
"For them to do that is really an accomplishment and a testament of what they wanted for their community," Felicia Cosby, a Jeter descendant and society member, said.
Cosby said that the society and volunteers have cared for the cemetery since it was founded. It remains an active cemetery to this day.
"We have approximately 406 individuals who are buried here," Cosby said. "And we note we have 255 of those that we've recognized, that qualify us for the African American maintenance fund."
Cosby said that along with upkeep, the group's work has turned recently to documentation of whose buried here as part of the Richmond Cemetery Collaboratory. She added they are also focused on restoration as they recently discovered part of the property stretched into the woods and could contain unknown graves, including the original Jeters.
"That, I'm looking for, I have not seen them," Cosby said. "I know, John Jeter, their son is buried here, over there. But I have not seen their tombstone."
Cosby said to having the two sites honored is a momentous occasion.
"Especially as we talk about the history of African Americans, so much is untold," she said.
White added that she hopes people learning about their story will then go back to their communities and discover who helped build them.
"Sometimes we ignore things, we forget about them," White said. "We have to go back and think about all the good things that have happened before we got here."
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