Old Brick House, Colonial, Virginia
Old Brick House was the home of the Kennon family of Virginia from the last quarter of the 17th century until near the end of the 18th century. In July 2024, Todd Long was voted onto the board of the Old Brick House Foundation as the Chair of Publicity and Historian. In about October of 2024, Todd expressed interest in wanting to research the role slavery played at Old Brick House which the board approved. Within about 3 months, he had made a number of discoveries that had been buried in historic documents at the Library of Virginia and Virginia Museum of History and Culture, discoveries of an unknown story of the enslaved. Todd wrote up a narrative of the role the Kennon family played in the peculiar institution and presented it to the OBHF Board. They did not like how “negative” it all sounded. They next tasked Todd with reaching out to other historic sites, historians, and academics for feedback on his research and writing. He made contacts with Nicole Moore and Joseph McGill of the Slave Dwelling Project, both of whom are well known historians. Both reviewed his work and gave a glowing seal of approval as well as a letter to the board supporting his research and writing on the subject. Todd also received similar remarks from a few others including a Kennon family genealogist and a historic interpreter at another site. In the end, the OBHF Board determined that more research needed to be done, despite Todd doing all that was asked of him. In the end they refused to allow Todd to make public the history of slavery at OBH. Todd resigned from the Board in April of 2025, in protest of their decision. The history of the enslaved of OBH can be found in two places: 1) Todd’s Archives, Slavery at Conjurer’s Neck and Old Brick House | Todd’s Archives and 2) Kennon Family History Research Group – Kennon Family History Research Group. To date, OBHF does not make this history known, and continues to host weddings and other events there without making this history known, profiting off of the long gone enslaved who built OBH and labored in the fields at this historically rich site. As they do not have a website, to call attention to this, you can visit their Facebook page, (4) Facebook, and ask them about the history of the enslaved there.