Morven Park Announces 246 Years Project

Morven Park is thrilled to announce work has begun on the 246 Years Project -- a social justice initiative dedicated to documenting and honoring the millions of enslaved men, women, and children whose names and life stories deserve to be known. For 246 years the life events of enslaved individuals were recorded in a variety of documents by enslavers managing their “property”. These records survive today in the archives of historic sites, community history organizations, and local courts.

Morven Park, in partnership with the Loudoun County Circuit Court, will collect this fragmentary biographical data and organize it within a custom-built, on-line database, reassembling the pieces to reveal the life events of the men, women, and children enslaved in Loudoun County. In February 2023, the database will be ready for information to be uploaded. Once populated and tested, the searchable database will be available on-line, free of charge, for public use.

“The 246 Years Project will bring to light thousands of untold stories of strength, resilience, and persistence, creating an opportunity for truth-telling, recognition, and memorialization,” stated Stacey Metcalfe, Executive Director/CEO, Morven Park. “We are honored to be a part of the stories and healing that will come from these efforts to find their names and honor their legacies.”

“I’m honored to be part of a wonderful historic endeavor related to the 246 Years Project. By virtue of my partnership with Morven Park, we hope this collaboration will allow both my office and the Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation to offer valuable insights related to the people who lived and worked at Morven Park and in Loudoun County,” said Gary Clemens, clerk of the Loudoun County Circuit Court.

In August 1619, a group of 20 Africans were brought to Jamestown, Virginia, and sold to the settlement. On December 6, 1865, the ratification of the 13th Amendment liberated close to four million individuals from slavery.

In the 246 years between 1619 and 1865, vast numbers of Africans and their descendants were held in bondage and legally considered property. As property, their names are absent from most standard government records such as census, birth, and death registers. These 246 years of omission prevent current descendants of enslaved Africans from being able to trace their ancestry through the many on-line genealogy services available today.

We invite the everyone to join us in this effort to discover, recognize, preserve and share the names and stories of the millions of men, women, and children that history has ignored for too long. For more information visit www.morvenpark.org/246years.

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Morven Park is a 1,000 acre historic estate located at Leesburg, Virginia. Owned and operated by the Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation, a non-profit organization, Morven Park first opened to the public in 1967.

Known as the “Central Park” of Loudoun County, Morven Park welcomes 250,000 visitors each year who come to enjoy exquisite scenery, formal boxwood gardens, the Morven Park International Equestrian Center, the iconic Greek Revival mansion, museums, and hiking trails.

As a nonprofit organization, Morven Park relies on donations to preserve the exceptional buildings and grounds, to support our award-winning student programs, and to continue our fun, family-friendly events.