A new Virginia historical highway marker recognizing the Honorable Armistead S. Nickens will be dedicated at a ceremony to be held on Saturday, Oct. 15, in Lancaster County.
The marker, which will honor the county’s first and only elected Black representative in the House of Delegates, is located near the former Theodore Byrd barbershop at 621 Kamps Mill Road (Route 790) off Route 3 between Kilmarnock and Lancaster Court House.
The unveiling ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. The commemoration will continue from noon to 3 p.m. with a free community celebration on the grounds of the Lancaster Virginia Historical Society at 8346 Mary Ball Road (Route 3) in Lancaster Court House). The afternoon will feature food truck sales, music, local vendors and entrepreneurs, museum tours, historical displays, and community resource tables.
The marker text, approved by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Board of Historic Resources last September, will read: “Armistead S. Nickens (ca. 1836-1906). Armistead Nickens was born into a family of free people of color that included at least 12 veterans of the Revolutionary War. In 1867 the local agent of the Freedmen’s Bureau identified him as a strong potential candidate for public office. After attending Virginia’s Republican State Convention in Sept. 1871, Nickens won election to the House of Delegates that year and served two terms, becoming Lancaster County’s first Black elected official. According to oral tradition, he was an early advocate of what, decades later, became the Downing Bridge. He is credited with building one of the county’s first schools for African Americans. Nickens owned more than 150 acres of land by 1906.”
The marker unveiling and celebration have been organized by a committee of Armistead Nickens Family descendants, including Francine Aytes Hunter, Antoinette Diantha Aytes, Brenda Campbell, Karen Turner Fauntleroy, Bonita Corbin James, Thomas Walker, and Jacqueline Morris Whitman, with support from the Lancaster Virginia Historical Society, Kilmarnock Museum, Historic Christ Church and Museum, and Lancaster Community Library.
For more information about the marker unveiling and community celebration, contact the Lancaster Virginia Historical Society at 804-432-7280 or www.LancasterVaHistory.org.