(L-R, middle) Andrew Abdel-Rashid Brown talks to Michael L. Blakey about the school that once stood on this spot across from Grove Baptist Church. It was one of the sites people visited Monday, September 13, 2021, on property where Wegmans plans to build a distribution center. Blakey is NEH professor of anthropology and American studies at W&M and Brown is a long time resident of Brown Grove.
Brown Grove in Hanover County is now on the Virginia's register of historic places, but its inclusion is unlikely to prevent the development of a Wegmans distribution center there.
More than two years after the announcement of the $175 million project, nearby residents are still resisting the development, saying the industrial traffic and pollution will encroach on their homes, damage the natural environment, harm their quality of life and endanger what remains of Brown Grove.
The threat led local residents to seek its protection by obtaining a historic designation for the community, which was founded by freed slaves during the Reconstruction period more than 150 years ago.
On Thursday, the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and State Review Board voted to recognize Brown Grove as a historic district. The vote also sets out a federal request for the site's inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
"It hasn't always been easy because Brown Grove was never taken seriously by the local government. We always had to prove that we exist," said Diane Smith Drake, a descendant of the area's original settlers and member of the community group that coordinated the register application. "It’s definitely a long overdue recognition."
The recognition will not impact on the development of the 1.7 million-square-foot distribution center near Sliding Hill and Ashcake roads, as Wegmans has already received approvals from the county and federal regulators to build there.
People gathered at Brown Grove Baptist Church last month before crossing Ashcake Road to visit four sites on property where supermarket chain Wegmans plans to build a distribution center, whose employee entrance also would be near the site where the old Brown Grove school once stood.
In the 2019 announcement that said the center would create 700 jobs, former Gov. Ralph Northam said he was using $2.35 million in state money as an incentive for Wegmans to build the center.
Site preparation and preliminary infrastructure development has been underway for several months now.
Over the past two years, residents of Brown Grove have said that the development would rise near old burial grounds that are no longer visible and an old schoolhouse that once stood there. Brown Grove Baptist Church, where many parishioners draw ties back to Caroline Morris, one of the the area's original settlers, is located across Ashcake Road near where Wegmans’ employee entrance would be located.
The register application says the district spans 1,226 acres and is bisected by I-95.
The report notes that there are several structures, cemeteries and archaeological sites that contribute to the historic character of the district. But it excludes part of the original district where other commercial and industrial development, such as the Hanover Airport and a cement factory, has risen in recent decades.
Julie Langan, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, said the historic designation would not have changed the course of the project.
Lisa Nicholson is doing the same job for state government that she has done since 2008, while working from home four to five days a week.
She said her agency consulted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers earlier in the review process and determined that development on the 219-acre site would have an adverse impact on historical resources associated with Brown Grove.
The agency ultimately recommended that the developers meet several conditions to mitigate the impact, including a $12,500 payment to help cover the cost of research and documentation for the national register application.
"It’s wonderful that community chose to go all the way through the process with having the district listed, but at this point it doesn’t change anything," Langan said in a phone interview. "The community is to be commended that they took this on."
Representatives for Wegmans did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Smith Drake said she still disagrees with Wegman's plans to build in Brown Grove, but did not share say whether she or others would continue to fight against it.
"I would hope that Wegmans realizes Brown Grown is a historic community," she said. "Whether they'll do something about it ... that would be great because we told them that it would not be a good site for their mega distribution warehouse. It just does not fit."
Several Brown Grove residents and their neighbors in several nearby subdivisions filed suit in 2020, alleging that the county violated open meetings laws, COVID-19 safety restrictions and environmental regulations in approving the project.
In May, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that it would review an appeal of the Hanover Circuit Court's dismissal of the suit.
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"We are confident that the Supreme Court’s review of the steps taken by the Board when it approved the zoning applications will show that the Board’s consideration and approval of those applications are fully supported by the law," said Hanover County Attorney Dennis Walter.
Rod Morgan, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said Friday that their suit does not include any allegations related to Brown Grove, but that he hopes it could draw and keep attention on what's happening with the development.
“I think that goes to show that there’s something worth saving and protecting," he said. "Hanover hasn’t felt that way but clearly others do.”
Morgan and others were also party to another lawsuit with the Hanover NAACP last year seeking an injunction on the project. While that request was not met, he said the case technically remains active.
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04-13-1982 (cutline): Project I hotel site is cleared.
11-07-1982 (cutline): Start of construction on the Marriott hotel is one of the events that has occurred this year in the area surveyed.
02-18-1981: Mayor Marsh operates back hoe at ceremonies for construction of the Richmond convention center complex.
02-18-1981 (cutline): Mayor Marsh at the podium discussing developments for new convention center development.
10-18-1977: Richmond City Council views a model of the convention center.
10-19-1982 (cutline): Officials watch as an explosive is detonated to mark the start of construction of a $38 million hotel and convention center planned by Marriott Corp. at Sixth and Broad Streets in Richmond. The ceremony, which featured a luncheon under a special tent, was held today on the site of Project I.
10-19-1982: Ground breaking ceremony at Richmond Convention Center for Marriott.
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(L-R, middle) Andrew Abdel-Rashid Brown talks to Michael L. Blakey about the school that once stood on this spot across from Grove Baptist Church. It was one of the sites people visited Monday, September 13, 2021, on property where Wegmans plans to build a distribution center. Blakey is NEH professor of anthropology and American studies at W&M and Brown is a long time resident of Brown Grove.
People gathered at Brown Grove Baptist Church last month before crossing Ashcake Road to visit four sites on property where supermarket chain Wegmans plans to build a distribution center, whose employee entrance also would be near the site where the old Brown Grove school once stood.
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