n ST . PAUL COMMUNITY CHURCH SUGARLAND ETHNO HISTORY PROJECT 14730 Sugarland Road , Poolesville • SugarlandProject . org ( Please check for hours and programs .)
“ I was born down on the river bottom about four miles below Edwards ’ Ferry , on the Eight Mile Level , between Edwards ’ Ferry and Seneca . I belonged to ole Doctah White . He owned a lot o ’ lan down on de bottom … Yes sah , Doctah White was good to his slaves . Yes sah , he had many slaves . I dunno how many . My Missis took me away from de bottom when I was a little boy , ‘ cause de overseer he was so cruel to me . Yes sah he was mean . I promised him a killin if ever I got big enough .”
~ phillip johnson , former slave and a founder of sugarland forest , from 1937 wpa interview
THEME : African American community history .
BACKGROUND : Founded in 1871 , shortly after emancipation , Sugarland Forest was home to over 40 African American families whose homes were surrounded by garden patches , orchards , and livestock pens on about 200 acres . At the center of the community stood the church , school , community hall , cemetery , well , store , and post office .
During the Jim Crow and segregation eras , close knit Black communities provided a sanctuary from the racist rules and policies found in the outside world by offering housing , land ownership , education , and worship to people who were actively denied such basic things outside the community .
Houses here were built close together with large vegetable gardens and orchards to the back . The men from Sugarland worked on nearby farms , at Seneca Quarry , and on the C & O Canal . The women , when not raising children and tending their own homes , worked as midwives or with local doctors and morticians .
For several years , school was held in the church building until funds were raised to build a separate school in 1884 . During segregation , Black and White children by law attended separate schools .
Top left : St . Paul Community Church ; left : Sugarland well .
THE CHURCH : This building was built in 1893 to replace the original church , at a cost of $ 1000 . The church stands as the last structure reminding us of the Sugarland Forrest community . The church records offer great insight into the lives of community members and the surviving cemetery stones preserve the names of generations of families who lived here .
The history of this settlement has been gathered and preserved by descendants of the original inhabitants and has recently been turned into a book entitled : I Have Started for Canaan .
AMENITIES : Interpretive panels and programs by appointment .
n EDWARD ’ S FERRY LOCKHOUSE # 25 End of Edward ’ s Ferry Road Poolesville • CanalTrust . org
( Open daylight hours , year-round )
“... the ferryman at Edwards ’ Ferry , on the Potomac was the underground agent of these organized thieves … and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal [ bordering the Potomac in Maryland ] was a part of the route which received , on certain boats , fugitives brought over by the ferryman .”
~ samuel ellzey , a free black , of the leesburg area
THEME : Work along the canal .
BACKGROUND : The C & O Canal operated from 1831 to 1924 along the Potomac River , running 184.5 miles from Washington , DC to Cumberland , Maryland . Long , nar-
32 plenty I Spring sowing 2021