Work begins this week on T.C. Walker mural

Work begins this week on a mural on Gloucester Main Street to celebrate the life and legacy of T.C. Walker.

Artist Michael Rosato holds a drawing of the T.C. Walker mural that will be painted on the old building 6769 Main St. in downtown Gloucester. It will take Rosato about two months to paint the detailed mural.

The mural will be painted by artist Michael Rosato on the side of 6769 Main Street, a building owned by Bill Seidel near Walker’s home. Completion is expected in two months.

The Cook Foundation commissioned the artwork in 2019. This will be the fourth Main Street mural, joining others celebrating the legacy of Pocahontas, Gloucester’s daffodils, and its waterfront. The Cook Foundation is a nonprofit, privately funded organization whose mission is to nurture and sponsor the arts in Gloucester County.

Rosato, who lives in Maryland, started the mural as a sketch in his studio, according to a news release. He specializes in large-scale murals and his work can be found in such venues as the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Museum in Cape Charles, the headquarters of Bacardi in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Virginia Military Institute.

Thomas Calhoun Walker, 1862-1953. He practiced law in Gloucester and lived in a house near the site of a soon-to-be-painted mural on his life.

Life of Walker

Rosato said the mural will depict the life of Thomas Calhoun Walker, 1862-1953, who was born a slave, fought for an education as a youth, studied law under Gloucester lawyers, and became a prominent member of the Virginia State Bar. He told his life story in an autobiography, “The Honey-pod Tree.”

Describing the mural-to-be, Rosato said, “It’s the life story of T.C. Walker and starts when he was a boy, a child, until he reaches his later years. It’s a remarkable story. My goal with the mural is to get you to really know, on a more in-depth level, all the things that made T.C. Walker, T.C. Walker.”

Thomas Calhoun Walker was elected for two terms on the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors, serving from 1891 to 1895. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Walker as the advisor and consultant of Negro affairs for the Virginia Emergency Relief Administration.

A lifelong learner and lover of education, Walker also became a superintendent for Gloucester Negro Schools and known for donating money to help build schools for African Americans in the county.