Tims River, formerly Negro Run, is a 1.8 mile long tributary of the Robinson River within the

Shenandoah National Park Shenandoah National Park (often ) is an American national park that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its broad valley to the west, and the ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

History of racist place names

Negro Run was one of "at least 1,441 federally recognized places across the nation include slurs in their official name". At least 558 place names refer to

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

specifically in a derogatory manner. This creek was originally called Tim's River in 1753 and officially named Nigger Run in 1933. It, and all other geographic features, replaced the word "Nigger" with "Negro" in 1962 by order of the

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

Name change process

In November 2015, a local hiker sent a letter to the Deputy Director of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

expressing concern about the creek called Negro Run and suggesting that it be renamed "Oak Run" to reflect its proximity to White Oak Canyon. African-American families were living in the lower White Oak Canyon during the

Jim Crow era The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

, which is most likely the basis of the official name change in 1933 to Nigger Run. From that letter, the Shenandoah National Park Superintendent began the process of officially changing the racist name of the creek. The

Board of Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

reached out to other state and local historical societies to ask for comment on the proposal. The Madison County Historical Society preferred to see the creek named "Dyer Run" after the family that owned the property and lived in that area prior to the establishment of the park. By December 2016 the local African-American community had worked with the historical society to come to an agreement on the new name to be proposed to the Board of Geographic Names. The competing proposed names, "Freedom Run" by the National Park Service and "Dyer Run" by the Madison County Historical Society, were mutually withdrawn and replaced by the proposal to rename Negro Run "Tims River" at the 789th meeting of the Board of Geographic Names Domestic Names Committee on December 8, 2016. The proposed name and case summary was included in Review List 426 released December 30, 2016 and subsequently approved by the Board of Geographic Names on February 9, 2017.

References

Rivers of Louisa County, Virginia Rivers of Orange County, Virginia Tributaries of the York River (Virginia) {{Virginia-river-stub