Free Union Real Estate

Free Union real estate is extremely desirable for three reasons: It's as a quiet and peaceful during the day as it is at night. Wonderful, historic, architectural gems are hidden away down each tree-lined driveway and the magnificent views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Free Union Virginia History

In 1761, the Free Union area was added to Albemarle County.

Two of the earliest families settling here were James Harris and Daniel and Gabriel Maupin.

Daniel Maupin lived from 1748 until his death in 1788 in White Hall area on the Maupin Home place.

Gabriel his son lived on what is now called Brakeheart Road in Sugar Hollow until his death in 1794.

Gabriel's son Thomas Maupin was the first of the Maupin family to live in the Free Union area.

He lived just north of Wesley Chapel Church.

He is believed to be buried in the Maupin Cemetery on Pea Vine Road.

There are many fieldstones and Ora Maupin and her cousin Marvin Maupin took care of the cemetery for many years.

They were not sure of the names for the many fieldstone graves in the cemetery.

No military action occurred in Free Union during the Civil War, and the village emerged unscathed.

Rutledge, constructed for the Farish family in the 1850s on present-day Route 743, presents unusual two-story plan.

Thirty-one families lived within two miles of Free Union in 1847.

By 1884-85, Free Union contained two coach and wagon builders, two distillers, three general merchants, two liquor dealers, one corn and one flourmill, two physicians, one undertaker and twenty-one principal farmers.

By 1911, Free Union had an estimated population of sixty and included several businesses.

Built in 1837, classical-revival, small scale with gable-end entrance, and some Flemish bond brickwork.

The church was built during a time when many rural sects of religion did not have the funds to build individual houses of Worship; so four denominations (Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian) built this 'union' church.

 It was "free" to all races. Dickinson and Sarah Burruss, of the nearby old Homestead estate, gave the land (deeded November 25,1837) to be used "for a Place of worship...for the different denominations of Christians...one Sabbath or Lord day in every month."

The brick for its construction was made on the Burruss' plantation.

James Ferguson taught school in this Church to black students following the Civil War and is purportedly the first of its kind in Albemarle County.

The village was named after the church-originally called Nicksville after a free slave blacksmith named Nick.

In 1847 a Post Office was established in this village and in order to avoid confusion with a nearby town called Nixville, the name Free Union was adopted.

Free Union, Once Called Nicksville, Officially Was Put on Map as Post Office 112 Years Ago

One hundred and twelve years ago residents of what is now Free Union were looking forward to an event, which would put them on the map.

A movement was afoot to establish a post office in the Albemarle County village.

Up to that time the village was known Nicksville.

But since another city called Nixville existed in the county, one of the first obstacles was to rename Nicksville to avoid any conflict at the two post offices.

Villages rarely were named when they formed in early days.

They began as settlements and acquired names as they grew.

Nicksville is said to have been named after a "Free Black" who ran a blacksmith shop in what is now the center of the village.

Several legends appear regarding selection of a name for the new post office but some of these stories are doubtful.

In 1847, about 10 years after Free Union Baptist Church was built in what is now the village, the center of the community was about two miles west of the present site and was known as Thompson's neighborhood.

It had a store and a church building (the old Garrison Meeting House).

With the growth of Nicksville, the post office was established and it was placed in what is now Free Union.

We don't know who chose the name but it was named after the Baptist church.

The church was built as a Union church and was free.

Free Union Church is mentioned in old records and papers before the post office was established.

For some time afterwards, Free Union remained a post office designation only.

The older folks still called the town Nicksville even up to the turn of the century.

A list supplied by the General Service Administration in Washington, D. C. gives the name of Henry Harris as the first postmaster at Free Union.

He received the appointment on March 8, 1847.

He was a member of the family, which settled at Free Union while it was still a part of Louisa County.

The exact location of the post office operated by Harris is not known.

He is said to have lived at Herndon House, which burned a few years ago. Vera V. Via

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