Sweet Hall, Virginia | |
Settlement Type: | Unincorporated community |
Pushpin Map: | Virginia#USA |
Pushpin Label: | Sweet Hall |
Pushpin Label Position: | left |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within Virginia and the United States |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | United States |
Subdivision Type1: | State |
Subdivision Name1: | Virginia |
Subdivision Type2: | County |
Subdivision Name2: | King William |
Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Population As Of: | 2000 |
Population Density Km2: | auto |
Timezone: | Eastern (EST) |
Utc Offset: | -5 |
Timezone Dst: | EDT |
Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
Elevation Ft: | 39 |
Coordinates: | 37.5758°N -76.9°W |
Postal Code Type: | ZIP codes |
Postal Code: | 23086 |
Blank Name: | FIPS code |
Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
Blank1 Info: | 1475381 |
Sweet Hall (also known as Sweethall) is an unincorporated community on the northern bank of the Pamunkey River in southeastern King William County, Virginia, United States.[1]
In none of the information easily available online about Sweet Hall is there mention that the owners were slaveholders, and that the structures were probably built and renovated by enslaved persons. Also, "outbuildings" were mentioned, but no mention was made of slave quarters, which surely existed. Enslaved persons were captive there until they followed the Union Army out of the area around 1863. For one account of life as an enslaved person at Sweet Hall, see Robert Ellett's account in Weevils in the Wheat, Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves. Weevils in the Wheat was "an expression used by slaves to communicate to one another that their plans for a secret meeting or dance had been discovered and that the gathering was called off. Weevils in the Wheat was edited by Charles L. Perdue, Jr., Thomas E. Barden and Robert K. Phillips. Copyright 1976 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.[2]
The small community includes two properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Sweet Hall and Windsor Shades. The Sweet Hall Marsh (part of the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve)[3] is located just south-southeast of the community.[1]