Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/24/2013
NRHP Listing Date 04/14/2014
NRHP Reference Number 14000149
The Robert Russa Moton Boyhood Home is located on a former plantation and farmstead known as Pleasant Shade in rural Prince Edward County, about 10 miles east of Farmville. Covering 246 acres today, the property contains a main house and a now-dilapidated kitchen-quarter building where Moton lived as a boy. One of the most prominent African American educators in the U.S. during the first decades of the 20th century, and president of the Tuskegee Institute after the death of Booker T. Washington, Moton (1867-1940) lived at Pleasant Shade from 1869 to 1880. His boyhood there shaped his conservative vision of race relations in America and in the South. The Pleasant Shade property, with existing portions dating back to 1746, is also important for its direct association with the April 6, 1865, Battle of Sayler’s Creek, the last major Civil War battle in Virginia before Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. A visit to the property in 2021 revealed that the kitchen-quarter building that was Robert Russa Moton’s boyhood home is no longer extant.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: April 12, 2021
