Renaming Of Confederate Road To Be Considered By Town Council

VIENNA, VA — On Monday, Vienna Town Council will consider holding a public hearing on the renaming of a road that references a Confederate figure.

Wade Hampton Drive, a street in the southwest quadrant of Vienna, is being considered for a potential name change. The street name references Wade Hampton III, a Confederate lieutenant general.

The street location is the approximate spot Hampton and his cavalry unit of about 600 men and horses came to Vienna in December 1862.

That month, General J.E.B. Stuart and 1,800 cavalry men, including Hampton’s unit headed north from Fredericksburg to raid Dumfries, Occoquan, Burke’s Station, Fairfax Station, and Fairfax Courthouse, concluding the ride through Vienna, Frying Pan, and Culpeper.

Before the Civil War, Hampton owned one of the largest plantations in South Carolina. After the Civil War, he became governor of South Carolina and served two terms as U.S. senator. Research from Historic Vienna Inc. indicated he had a "controversial record" involving violence, voter suppression, and fundraising for the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War.

Wade Hampton Drive was named in the 1960s. Formerly known as Lewis Street SW, it was renamed in recognition of the Civil War centennial. An ad hoc committee formed in 2021 noted there was never a public hearing held on the name change, and all residents in the neighborhood should have been approached by the town on the name change.

De Armond "Dee Dee" Carter, a member of the prominent African American Carter family in Vienna, requested the name change in June 2020.

Mayor Linda Colbert formed an ad hoc committee to make a recommendation on changing the street name and proposing a new name. The committee includes two of the four property owners of Wade Hampton Drive and two Historic Vienna Inc. members. The two Historic Vienna Inc. members are Dee Dee Carter and Gloria Runyon, also a descendant of the Carter family.

The committee met five times in 2021 and agreed the street should be renamed. However, members could not come to an agreement on a single new name.

The four property owners of Wade Hampton Drive recommended the name Roland Street, as the street currently connects to the existing Roland Street. The two property owners on the committee also recommended MildredLane( or Mildred Drive and LovingDrive) in recognition of Mildred Jeter, an African American and Native American woman who married white man Richard Loving.

Their court case, Loving vs. Virginia, established the right to have interracial marriages.

Carter and Runyon recommended the name Carter Street or Carter Lane to recognize the Carter family, who have lived in Vienna since 1859 and helped the Union during the Civil War. Carter and Runyon also recommended Liberty Lane, referring to the Liberty Amendments Month that Vienna first celebrated in 2021.

A fifth name recommendation is Minor Drive, referring to Andrew Minor, who had property in Vienna since the early 1800s and whose family made contributions to the town.

The committee and property owners did not recommend changing the name back to Lewis SW. The main reason is potential confusion over properties with identical house numbers on the current Lewis Street NW (131 and 134).

A public hearing on Monday would allow for discussion of the name change and public comment. Monday's Town Council meeting begins at 8 p.m.