Goochland Historical Society
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PANEL DISCUSSION EXPLORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF REGINALD D. BUTLER
The Goochland County Historical Society invites you to join us for a panel discussion exploring the life and legacy of Reginald D. Butler, author of The Evolution of a Rural Free Black Community: Goochland, Virginia, 1728–1832.
People often ask: what makes Goochland so different. This special event will bring together a distinguished panel of scholars to discuss Dr. Butler’s groundbreaking research and its lasting impact on the study of Virginia’s free Black communities.
Featured Panelists:
- Orice Jenkins – Independent scholar and award-winning author
- Robert Trent Vinson – Commonwealth Professor of African American and African Studies and Director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia
- Robert Vernon – Independent researcher, Central Virginia History Researchers
Dr. Butler, the second director of the University of Virginia’s Carter G. Woodson Institute, authored an influential and much-cited doctoral dissertation at Johns Hopkins University that was not formally published until recently. In The Evolution of a Rural Free Black Community: Goochland, Virginia, 1728–1832, Dr. Butler examined the formation and development of one of Virginia’s rural free Black communities through innovative and meticulous research in county and state archives.
His scholarship reconstructed the social, economic, and family networks that connected free Virginians with one another, their enslaved neighbors, and the white employers and public officials who shaped their daily lives. Decades after it was written, Dr. Butler’s work remains a fundamental resource for historians and genealogists, offering profound insight into the resilience, complexity, and enduring legacy of Virginia’s free Black communities.
Join us for an engaging conversation celebrating Dr. Butler’s remarkable scholarship and exploring its continued relevance to the history of Goochland County, Virginia, and the nation.
📅 Date: August 29, 2026
🕒Time: 10:00 AM
📍Location: The Eagle Theater, Central High Cultural and Educational Complex, 2748 Dogtown Rd, Goochland, VA 23063
Admission is free and open to the public. A reception will be held following the presentation, and the book will be available for purchase.
INDEPENDENCE ON THE GREEN
The location has changed, please read below.
Join us as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s birth. On July 4th at the Goochland Sports Complex Gymnasium we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s birth with a reading of the Declaration of Independence followed by the a bell ringing ceremony to commemorate the original 13 colonies who banded together to bring us freedom.
July 4, 2026
1:00 pm
Goochland Sports Complex Gym, 1800 Sandy Hook Road, Goochland, VA 23063
www.exploregoochland.com/GVA250
VA250 MOBILE MUSEUM
Want to see the VA 250 Mobile Museum?
VA250 MOBILE MUSEUM
Step back in time and experience Virginia’s central role in the American Revolution when the VA250 Mobile Museum Experience, “Out of Many, One,” visits Goochland County. This innovative traveling exhibit will bring the story of the nation’s founding directly to the Goochland High School located at 3250 River Road West, Goochland, VA 23063. This experience is free and will be open to the public during the following times:
• April 10 - 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• April 11 - 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
• April 12 - Noon to 4:00 PM
The VA250 Mobile Museum Experience
More than just a static display, “Out of Many, One” is a cutting-edge, immersive, and hands-on exhibition housed within a custom-built 53-foot expandable tractor-trailer. Utilizing high-tech displays, interactive exhibits, and compelling artifacts, the museum offers visitors of all ages an engaging journey through the pivotal events, groundbreaking ideas, and diverse individuals who shaped America in its earliest days. It highlights Virginia’s essential contributions as the birthplace of the nation and its ongoing pursuit of a more perfect union.
For more information on the Goochland VA250 Committee, please visit www.exploregoochland.com/gva250.
WITNESS TREE CHALLENGE
Can you find a tree that’s been alive since 1776? The Witness Tree Challenge invites our community to discover trees in Goochland County that have stood for 250 years—silent witnesses to the American Revolution! Find, document, and help us celebrate these living pieces of history.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: May 31, 2026. Learn more: https://goochlandedu.org/.../15/the-witness-tree-challenge/
A PAPER BRIDGE BOOK TALK
Where did they go? And when? And why?
At the beginning of the 20th century, with the introduction of Jim Crow laws throughout the south that targeted recently emancipated Blacks, a great migration began as hundreds of thousands of Blacks moved north seeking opportunity and prosperity.
One such family came from the Perkinsville community straddling, the Goochland/Louisa County line. “A Paper Bridge: Love Letters from the Great Migration” — a book based on the love letters between Herbert Gordon Cosby and his wife Jannie Ellis Cosby gives a compelling narrative of the challenges faced by one couple caught up in that mass movement.
Author Dr. Wanda Alderman, an urban sociologist in Washington DC has curated these letters and will speak to a joint meeting of the Goochland and Louisa County Historical Societies on Sunday, November 16 at 2 PM at St. Mark Baptist Church, 4596 Factory Mill Rd, Maidens.
Dr, Alderman is the great-great-granddaughter of William and Nancy Ellis of Goochland, the great granddaughter of Calvin and Virginia Ellis of Louisa, and the granddaughter of Herbert and Janie Cosby of the love letters.
A reception and book signing will follow Dr. Alderman’s talk. Please join us for an important and informative talk about this epochal change in America’s development.
