Holly Knoll
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Holly Knoll, also known as the Robert R. Moton House, is a historic house in rural
Gloucester County, Virginia Gloucester County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,711. Its county seat is Gloucester Courthouse. The county was founded in 1651 in the Virginia Colony and is named for Henry Stuart, ...
, near Capahosic. It was the retirement home of the influential African-American educator
Robert Russa Moton Robert Russa Moton (August 26, 1867 – May 31, 1940) was an American educator and author. He served as an administrator at Hampton Institute. In 1915 he was named principal of Tuskegee Institute, after the death of founder Booker T. Washington, ...
(1867-1940), and is the only known home of his to survive. It now houses the Gloucester Institute, a non-profit training center for African-American community leaders and educators. It was declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1981. and  


Description and history

Holly Knoll is located on the northeast bank of the York River, between the communities of Capahosic and Allmondsville. The main house is a -story brick building with a side gable roof, which is flanked by single-bay single-story wings. A two-story porch and portico extends across much of the facade, supported by smooth Tuscan columns. The interior is organized in a typical
Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...
central hall plan, and includes several pieces of furniture that originally belonged to Moton. The property also includes a reproduction of the log home in which Moton grew up. The house was built in 1935 for Robert Russa Moton, and was his home until his death in 1940. Moton was one of the most influential African-American educators of his generation, succeeding
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
in the leadership of Hampton University and the
Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...
, and helping found the
National Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...
. The property was then transformed into a conference center, now The Gloucester Institute, dedicated to continuing Moton's educational legacy. It was at the center of strategy discussions amongst African-American intellectuals and activists during the
Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
of the 1950s and 1960s.


See also

* List of National Historic Landmarks in Virginia *
National Register of Historic Places listings in Gloucester County, Virginia __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Gloucester County, Virginia. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Gloucester Count ...


References


External links


The Gloucester Institute web siteHolly Knoll at Virginia Department of Historic Resources
{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Historic Landmarks in Virginia Houses in Gloucester County, Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses completed in 1935 Colonial Revival architecture in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Gloucester County, Virginia