{"nrhp_refnum":"99000145","name":"Proffit Historic District","other_names":["Vdhr # 02-643, 2148, 2149, 2150, 2151, 2152, 2153, 2154,","Vdhr # 2155,"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly the area around the jct. of Southern RR tracks and VA 649","address_restricted":false,"city":"Proffit","county":"Albemarle County","state":"VA","lat":38.11109711250006,"lon":-78.42437124699828,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-02-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural village historic district in Proffit, north-central Albemarle County, Virginia, centered on Proffit Road near the railroad tracks. It holds 26 contributing and 11 noncontributing buildings, three contributing sites and one noncontributing structure, mostly dating from the 1880s to the 1920s.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is significant under Criterion A at the local level as the most intact and best documented historically black community in Albemarle County. It began with land bought by freed slaves in 1871 and grew after a railroad stop opened in 1881. The 1891 Evergreen Baptist Church and the early 1900s sulphur mine site add to its importance.","narrative":"Proffit is a small rural village in north-central Albemarle County, Virginia, built in two main stages. About 1871, freed slaves began settling here, and Ned Brown later sold small parcels to others. The Brown and Flanagan families built frame houses in the 1880s and 1890s, and three Flanagan houses survive, vacant and deteriorated. A railroad stop established in 1881 brought a second phase of growth, including two-story frame houses, a station master's house, stores and a depot, which was later torn down. The Evergreen Baptist Church, built in 1891 by a black Baptist congregation, remains a visual landmark with its steeple and Gothic-style windows. The district also includes the Bethel church cemetery and the remains of a sulphur mining operation from the early 1920s, the only one of its kind in the county. Proffit was listed as the most intact and best documented historically black community in Albemarle County, with a period of significance from 1871 to 1948.","period_of_significance":"1871-1948","architect_builder":"Ned Brown - builder; Elijah Cox - builder; Henry Leake - builder","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival and Late Gothic Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Condition varies from deteriorated to excellent. The three Flanagan houses are vacant and deteriorated, Evergreen Baptist Church is in excellent condition, and the mine site is in ruinous condition. Many buildings are used as residences.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.663277-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/3/6794/41679403/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/99000145.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000145/f63d271196-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000145/f63d271196-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Cecouchman","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proffit-historic-sign_0602.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cecouchman</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proffit-historic-sign_0602.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679403","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proffit_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7248239"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/albemarle-county/proffit-historic-district-99000145/"}