SURRY COUNTY, Va. — Bacon’s Castle in Surry County is best known for its ties to Nathaniel Bacon, the man who burned down Jamestown and attacked native tribes during a bloody rebellion against Virginia’s governor in 1676.
Now, historians are spreading awareness about the rebellion’s impact on race-based slavery in America and the legacy of Black people enslaved on the land.
“If you are a citizen of Virginia, this is your history, and I think people really need to grapple with that,” said Peighton Young, a historian and genealogist. “Our history has true value.”
Young’s research is being highlighted by Preservation Virginia, the privately-funded statewide historic preservation organization that purchased Bacon’s Castle at auction in the 1970s.
“We’re preserving the house, but we’re preserving every story that went into this house,” Elyse Werling with Preservation Virginia said, highlighting the importance of magnifying Black History at Bacon's Castle. "[Black] history, their community, their family, is important."
Young uncovered records that show several enslaved Black men at Bacon’s Castle escaped. Their research also revealed a man enslaved at Bacon’s Castle participated in the slave rebellion led by Nat Turner in neighboring Southampton County in 1831.
“You can see the battle between freedom and enslavement being waged here amongst the people who were enslaved [at Bacon’s Castle],” said Young, who acknowledged stories about the bravery of Black people enslaved at Bacon’s Castle are not why most people know about it.
“I’ve seen people come here with the intention of thinking there’s treasure on the property from Bacon’s Rebellion,” said Young. “There have been people thinking that his grave is out here, even though he [died somewhere else].”
During the rebellion, several of Bacon's followers seized the mansion from the Allen family for several months. Bacon died of disease before ever stepping foot on the land in Surry County. However, it became known as Bacon’s Castle nearly 100 years later when Thomas Jefferson reframed the rebellion as a pre-cursor to the American Revolution, and used it as a rallying cry against the England.
“I get tons of guests coming in who have this perception of Nathaniel Bacon as this sort of early American patriot,” said Brenna Geraghty with Preservation Virginia, who stressed the impact of Bacon’s Rebellion on race-based slavery in America.
“The colonial government, after the rebellion, decided to implement what’s called the Black Codes, or in some cases known as the Slave Codes,” said Geraghty, who explained that wealthy plantation owners feared their white indentured servants would rise up again. “[The Slave Codes] are a series of laws that come up after Bacon’s Rebellion enshrining slavery as the race-based, hereditary chattel enslavement system that would persist until 1863.”
As historians work to highlight the rebellion’s role in American history, they’re also shining a light on the descendants of people enslaved at Bacon’s Castle.
“Our great grandmother was born in this house,” said Joseph Jenkins, surrounded by his cousins who share Cordelia Jones as an ancestor. “The family history going back to this historic place is significant.”
Records show Cordelia Jones was born at Bacon’s Castle in 1850. Jenkins and his cousins believe her father was the white plantation owner, but Jones was enslaved and forced to sleep in a hole carved into the mansion’s attic.
“People of color were being thought about as things rather than people,” said Jenkins. “I think she would probably say ‘My soul looks back and wonders how we got over’”.
Even after slavery’s end, Black people worked and lived on Bacon’s Castle’s land, including Julianna Johnson. A well-respected midwife in Surry County, Johnson and her husband lived in the former slave house, which had no running water, toilet or kitchen.
“They struggled to get to where we are now, but it’s still more to be done,” said Johnson’s nephew Ernest Langhorne. "I wonder today if I would have survived the things that they went through."
Preservation Virginia is working to gather more information about the Black presence at Bacon’s Castle. Descendant families can contact them at baconscastle@preservationvirginia.org or (757) 357-5976. The property re-opens for tours in March.
