Middleburg

Known as the nation’s horse and hunt country capital, Middleburg has had a significant African American presence since its founding in 1787. Start at the Pink Box Visitor Center on N. Madison St, also the location of the developing Middleburg Museum. Ask to see the collection of photographs depicting the African American community from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. Diagonal to the Pink Box is John Wesley Wanzer's blacksmith shop. Wanzer helped organize the local branch of the NAACP and was a member of the County-Wide League which sought equal educational rights for African Americans in Loudoun public schools.

He was instrumental in the establishment of Banneker Elementary and Douglass High School, the first accredited high school in Loudoun for African American students. Travel east on Washington and you will pass many homes and businesses built by William Nathaniel Hall, the largest general contractor in Loudoun. Trading as WN Hall & Sons, they were responsible for building the original Middleburg Bank, a new wing on the old Leesburg Hospital, and George Washington's gristmill.

Turn left on Jay St and at the intersection of Jay and Marshall is the community historically known as Bureau Corner, named in reference to the Freedman's Bureau located in the log portion of the Hansborough House. Also located on Bureau Corner was Grant School, constructed in 1888 and renovated in 1950 as Marshall St Community Center. Anchoring the community was Asbury Methodist Church built in 1829 (the oldest church in Middleburg), transferred to the African American congregants in 1864; and Shiloh Baptist Church established in 1867 but in its current location since 1913.