Proffit Historic District
Ben Brown and other newly freed slaves, who
founded the community after the Civil
War, first named the settlement Egypt and then Bethel.
About 1881, the community became known as Proffit when the Virginia Midland Railway placed
a stop here, stimulating further development
between 1890 and 1916 by white landowners who bulit along Proffit Road. Prominent reminders of
Proffit’s black heritage are Evergreen Baptist
Church, built in 1891, and several houses
constructed by the Brown and Flannagan families
in the 1880s. The district was listed on the
Virginia Landmarks Register in 1998 and the
National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
Marker is on Proffit Road (County Route 649) near Mossing Ford Lane (County Route 741), on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
