Every time I visit Petersburg I'm impressed with how many really grand pre-Civil War buildings they have -- including their courthouse and a few others I've used for trivia over the years, like their library. It's testimony to just how much money was flowing there -- and of course to the enslaved people whose labor made all of that wealth.
What interests me, too, is how much you can tell about the history of counties by looking at their courthouses. Dinwiddie County, which is nearby, has a beautiful but much less grand courthouse.
When I think about Dinwiddie and its monuments, though, I also think about William Henry Brodnax -- who spoke in favor of gradual abolition of slavery in the Virginia legislature in the 1832 debates. Of Brodnax I hope to say something shortly.
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