The Proffit Historic District is a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

located at Proffit,

Albemarle County, Virginia Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Char ...

. It encompasses 26 contributing buildings and 3 contributing sites in the historic center of Proffit. Notable buildings and sites includes Evergreen Baptist Church, the Proffit Station Master's House, remains of the first Proffit Post Office, the Proffit Road Bridge, and several houses built by African-American families as far back as the 1880s.
Accompanying photo
an
Accompanying map
/ref> Proffit's history dates back to the 1870s when two former slaves, John Coles and Benjamin Brown, purchased some land from former slaveholder W.G. Carr. In 1876 Ned Brown purchased seventy-five acres in the area as well. Its settlement began and the community thrived. Proffit is noted as one of the few African American communities in

Albemarle County Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Charl ...

to survive after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Today it is a quiet residential area whose backbone is the Evergreen Baptist Church. The Church was built in 1891 by its first pastor, Reverend D.L. Gofney, and continues to be significantly involved in this historic community today. The historic district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1999.

References

*Proffit Historic Distric

- Virginia African Heritage Program

External links

Information on the Proffit Historic District from Virginia African Heritage Program
National Register of Historic Places in Albemarle County, Virginia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Colonial Revival architecture in Virginia Gothic Revival architecture in Virginia Geography of Albemarle County, Virginia {{AlbemarleCountyVA-NRHP-stub