Highway Marker To Honor Ona Judge, Washington's Escaped Slave

MOUNT VERNON, VA — A future historical highway marker in Fairfax County will honor Ona Judge, a woman born into slavery at Mount Vernon and who escaped from the Washingtons.

The marker honoring Judge was suggested by student in Gov. Ralph Northam's Black History Month Historical Marker Contest. There were 19 other historical highway markers chosen to highlight Virginia's African American history.

According to research published by the Mount Vernon estate, Judge was believed to be born around 1773 at Mount Vernon. The child of a slave and a white tailor, Judge became Martha Washington's personal attendant as a child. She was one of the slaves to Philadelphia in 1790, when George Washington's presidency began. She was regularly brought back to Virginia due to a Pennsylvania law that could have given her legal residency and free her from enslavement.

Judge escaped in Philadelphia in 1796 after learning she would be given to Martha Washington's granddaughter Elizabeth Parke Custis after Martha's death. According to the Mount Vernon estate, she walked out of the President's Mansion while the Washingtons were eating dinner.

She escaped to New Hampshire, where she married John Staines, had three children, and lived the rest of her life. Judge gave newspaper interviews about her escape, and Washington tried to reclaim her without success.

The historical markers highlighting Judge and other figures were approved by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources on June 18. The announcement came days after Northam proposed making Juneteenth a permanent state holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, referring to the day in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas learned they were free.

"As we elevate Juneteenth, celebrating and acknowledging the contributions of our Black communities and history is a critical and imperative step forward — especially through historical markers that are highly visible across the Commonwealth," said Northam in a statement.

Virginia's first historical markers were placed along Route 1 between Mount Vernon and Richmond. Today, there are over 2,500 highlighting "people, places, or events of regional, statewide, or national significance," according to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.