The African-American Community of Sterling

The Sterling Foundation Historical, Heritage and Preservation Committee invites you to an evening with Donna Bohanon.

Come hear about the African-American history of Eastern Loudoun County beginning just after the Civil War through the 21st century. Learn about communities such as Nokesville and Oak Grove and the churches, schools and dairy farms established by African-Americans in Sterling. Understand how African-Americans helped to establish the rural and urban roots of a developing country.

Donna Bohanon, Chair of the Black History Committee (BHC) of the Friends of the Thomas Balch Library (Leesburg), will present “The African American Community of Sterling” on Wednesday, February 21 at 6:30 pm in the Sterling Library. She will talk about the Nokes, Edes and Ewings families, three African-American families who established farms in Sterling, as well as the Oak Grove Baptist Church.

Joining Donna will be Richard Nokes of the Nokes family that owns the house near the corner of Nokes and Atlantic Boulevards. Richard will share his knowledge of the family that has lived in that home for over 100 years. The Rev. Gregory Spurlock, Pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church will also join Donna to share the history of the Oak Grove Community and Church, which will celebrate their 150th Anniversary on October 10 this year.

Like much of Old Sterling, the African-American communities’ century old buildings are gradually being abandoned or demolished. The historic remnants of the smaller villages are becoming relics, left to time by Loudoun's non-stop mass development. Eastern Loudoun does have a history. The African-American Community of Sterling presentation seeks to document Sterling's black history through archival research, photography, oral history and recent publications.

Nokes Boulevard runs right through Dulles Town Center from Route 28 to Cascades, where the heart of Nokesville was located. The area known locally as Nokes or Nokesville derived its name from George Washington Nokes who leased land in the area after the Civil War. In 1901, Nokes purchased five acres on the south side of Thayer Road.

The Nokes property at Thayer Road in Sterling was a modest farmstead owned and operated by an African-American family who first acquired it in 1913. The house appears to be a circa 1880 traditional I-house. The remaining 10-acre property includes several outbuildings (chicken houses, barn, spring-house) that supported the ongoing agricultural activities.

The Edes and the Ewing families both owned farms over 200 acres in size. The Edes property, called Pidgeon Hill, was located near where Countryside Boulevard now intersects with Harry Byrd Highway (Route 7) in Sterling. The Edes ran a dairy farm operation and shipped milk to Washington, DC. The Ewing farm stood southeast, near where Home Depot now resides. It was a quiet farming community, with beautiful big pastures and corn and wheat fields everywhere.

According to Loudoun historian Eugene Scheel, African-Americans settling in Oak Grove purchased land from George W. and Cynthia Bell of Herndon who, in 1871, had purchased and subdivided the former Payne farm into one-acre lots. The early settlers included the Berkley, Hannah and Wormley families. Local residents described Oak Grove as a self-contained community that comprised a public school, Baptist church established in 1868, a small general store and its own baseball league. The original church cemetery still stands to the northeast of the current church building. The cemetery, which comprises approximately 150 marked burials, includes the graves of many local African-Americans who were active in their community. Oak Grove once had a flag stop on the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad not far from the church.

The African-American Community of Sterling presentation will take place in meeting room A at the Sterling Library from 6:30 to 8:30 on Wednesday, February 21. The library is located at Sterling Plaza, 22330 South Sterling Boulevard, Suite A117, Sterling, VA, 20164. For more information, contact Todd Gallant at trailpath@aol.com.