The Bordens Marsh Foundation is a non-profit organization established to save and propagate history at a Virginia Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.  Much of the colonial history in this region is of national import, though largely unknown. Among forgotten documents recently discovered in the attic of the landmark house were bills of sale for slaves.  The signature of one of the sellers proved a direct link to the Carter family of tidewater Virginia, the largest land and slave owners in the Colony.  There is further documented direct linkage to the largest known manumission in the nation prior to the end of the Civil War.  A brutal murder of their master by slaves, a veritable sensation in its day, is connected to the manumission, as is an unusually early local settlement of freedmen called Smoketown.  (In the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries “smoke” or “smokey” was a racial slur, an opprobrious term for African American.)    

Lectures on this material have drawn interest at local venues, including schools, libraries, retirement centers, book clubs and special events.  The material has enjoyed drawing power in informing large numbers of the local public, from educators to students of all ages.  The Foundation is now expanding in offering education programs on American history and African American history. Each program will be offered by a prominent scholar versed in the subject matter of his or her expertise and will also include in each session a summation of the documented history of the Shenandoah Valley as seen through the lens of the eighteenth and nineteenth century inhabitants of all races, slave and free.  

Deliverables include heightened knowledge of history and heritage; participation in the programs by members of the community, the greater region, and far beyond.  The Foundation is restoring an historic barn to serve as venue for the programs and seeks funding for financing of programs, including speakers’ fees and rentals for technical support and archiving.  The programs are to be offered to the public free of charge.  Programs that offer a measure of inspiration can leave an indelible impression, wield influence, and finally begin the work of altering even long held convictions.

Please consider assistance in the interest of concord, enlightened understanding and nation-wide influence.  The project will prove sustainable in making a positive impact for long years into the future. 

The Bordens Marsh Foundation is dedicated to preserving history of vital significance for our nation’s present dilemmas.  “A confidence in the future depends on a reverence for the past.”  (Arthur Herman, Historian).