First Baptist Church Bermuda Hundred in Chesterfield to receive state historical marker

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Chesterfield County is getting a state historical marker for a 19th-century church located on a former marketplace where slave auctions were held.

The First Baptist Church Bermuda Hundred will officially receive the marker on Saturday, March 28, at 11 a.m. outside the church, located at 4603 Bermuda Hundred Road. The ceremony will include a dedication program before the marker unveiling.

Approved by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the markers aim to educate and inform the public about a historically significant person, place or event of regional, state or national importance.

Per a release, the First Baptist Church's origins dated to 1850, though it was formally established around 1866. Located at Bermuda Hundred -- a former central marketplace of the colonial period that later became one of Virginia's official trade ports in 1691 -- the church witnessed thousands of enslaved Africans brought to the area on transatlantic slave ships.

Bermuda Hundred later became one of Virginia's largest slave auction sites after around 1750, when the demand for laborers increased.

The Saturday event will feature Rev. Herbert C. Townes of the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia's African American History Committee (AAHC) as the master of ceremonies. There will be a celebration dance by Oluremi Sa-Ra before the marker's unveiling. County and faith leaders will also attend the ceremony.