History Thursday: 515 Amelia Street
This was the longtime home of pastor and educator B.H. Hester, and also his granddaughter, U.S. Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
This house on Amelia Street was the childhood home of Pamela Bridgewater, former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Benin, and Jamaica during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The property has been owned by Black families since 1849, when George Brookes—who was emancipated from slavery in 1835—bought it, according to research conducted by Ben Raterman for the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation’s historic marker program.
Brookes received his deed of manumission from Enoch Edwards, who, according to historic court records, emancipated three other people—Troy Brooke, his son Mordecai, and Moses Green.
Edwards appears several times in Fredericksburg’s “Free Negro/Slave Records.” In 1829, he and Edward DeBaptiste were ordered to pay fines for “permitting their slaves to go at large & hire themselves [out].” In 1838, he received a summons for “justices to consider the propriety of permitting Mordecai Brooke & Troy Brooke, free persons … to reside in Fredericksburg.”
Fourteen years after his emancipation, Brookes had earned enough money to buy the property at 515 Amelia. He lived in a house on the property and operated a shop next door, but unfortunately, by his death in 1869, he was in debt and the lot was partitioned into three and sold at auction.
In 1886, Lizzie Hayes, who was just 23 years old, became the owner of one of the lots. She lived there with her son, William, until she died at age 32 and left the property to him in trust, since he was only 15.
In 1911, William and Mamie Hayes divided the property again and sold half of it to Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site). John Diamond became pastor of the church in 1910 and he designed and oversaw the construction of the house that still stands at 515 Amelia.
Diamond was an architect as well as a pastor. Raterman writes that he may have added the diamond-shaped window on the right side of the house to “put in material form his name.”
“This house … borrows from various styles, probably reflecting the interests of its designer, the humility of his mission and the wherewithal he could bring to the project,” Raterman writes. “One could characterize the architectural style of 515 Amelia, then, as Italianate inspired, eclectic folk, a jewel of simplicity and harmony.”
B.H. Hester, Pamela Bridgewater’s grandfather, became pastor of Shiloh Old Site in 1922, a position he held for 40 years. Hester’s daughters and his grandchildren grew up in the house, which in 1962 was sold to the Hester family.
In 2022, Hester was honored as part of the Library of Virginia and Dominion’s Strong Men and Women of Virginia History. According to his biography there, he not only served as a pastor but also as principal of Fredericksburg Normal and Industrial Institute, also known as Mayfield High School, which gave Black students an opportunity to extend their education past elementary school.
Hester also established a weekly paper, Shiloh Herald, in 1925. The paper’s motto was, “For all things beneficial and uplifting; against all things injurious and detrimental; neutral on nothing.”
“In scathing editorials, [Hester] excoriated white leaders over voter suppression, lack of educational opportunities, and violence against African Americans in Virginia and nationwide,” the biography reads.
In 2019, Bridgewater, who still owns 515 Amelia, published a biography of her grandfather, Neutral on Nothing.
Bridgewater herself has won multiple commendations for her career and contributions, including a U.S. Presidential Meritorious Service Award and three Department of State Superior Honor Awards.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”