Our Mission
The mission of the Lincoln Preservation Foundation is to document and preserve the culturally diverse heritage of western Loudoun County Virginia's Goose Creek Historic District, anchored by the early 18th Century Quaker village of Lincoln. We seek to record and build upon the often untold stories for future generations, while protecting and preserving the buildings, environment, cultures, and features that enable its rural character and time-honored way of life.
If you have any information or documents to share with us, click here.
This photo captures one of Grace Church’s congregants, Katherine Shorts Gibson, in 1929. She was a member of the Grace Church and one of the last officers of the Loudoun County Emancipation Association in Purcellville. Based on oral histories like those told by Mrs. Gibson, the vibrant story of the local African-American community will be saved. The Lincoln Preservation Foundation and the Friends of Grace are currently raising funds for a new roof. The work involves removing the rotting rafters and a temporary patchwork metal roof that no longer deters wild animals from entering this sacred space. A historically accurate replacement will be built. To complete this critical next step, estimates range from $68,000 to $75,000.
LPF Awarded Grant
The Lincoln Preservation Foundation is grateful to the Van Huyck Chockley Family Foundation for a recent 2022 grant award. This money will be used to continue our mission to document and preserve the culturally diverse heritage of western Loudoun County, Virginia. We will continue to record and build upon the important, untold stories. Thank you, Van Huyck Chockley Family Foundation!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
African American War Veteran's Project
Our legendary Reggie Simms is hard at work on his local African-American war veteran's commemoration. We welcome submissions for this effort. Please tell us about your Loudoun County African-American war vet by emailing us at lincolnpreservationfoundation@gmail.com.
We would like names, service info, photos, and burial locations for those who have passed. Thanks for your contributions!
OUR KEY ACTIVITY AREAS
Historical Research
• Maintain a central repository of local historical information.
• Conduct research; e.g. underground railroad, oral histories, historical sites and buildings.
Preservation
Current preservation and restoration projects
•Brick and mortar restoration and preservation of the former Grace Methodist Episcopal Church and creation of the Grace Heritage Site.-
•The Grace Heritage Site will highlight the history of the African American struggle for freedom and emancipation, and house a tribute to local African American veterans.
•Physical preservation of the African American Cooksville Cemetery between Purcellville and Lincoln.
Information and Awareness
• Maintain an active website and social media.
• Create and publish papers, newsletters, information flyers.
• Maintain awareness & info on changes/threats to the community, e.g. new developments, new roads, key county meetings/decisions affecting us.
• Sale of publications, e.g. LPF publications, maps, and items.
Fund Raising
•Targeted fund raising includes grants: e.g. individual sponsors, corporate sponsors, and county and federal grantors.
• Sale of publications, e.g. LPF publications, maps, and items.
History
The Goose Creek Historic District is a nearly 10,000-acre rural historic district in western Loudoun County, Virginia. Europeans first settled the area in the 1730s. By 1750, the Quakers had established a meeting house in the village of Goose Creek; the name later changed to Lincoln. Eventually, Goose Creek became home to the largest concentration of Quakers in Virginia. The village and surrounding farmlands were also inhabited by free blacks. In the mid-19th century, Lincoln was a thriving village offering a variety of services to its residents and surrounding farms. These Quaker farms were typically a few hundred acres - large enough to provide an income but small enough to be farmed by a single family. Quakers did not believe in slave labor. This farm pattern is still evident on the landscape today.
Featured Fact: The Underground Railroad
Did you know ..... that western Loudoun has a connection with the Underground Railroad?
Manumission paper carried by slave dated 1815
The Underground Railroad is a name given to the effort slaves made to escape to freedom, tracing their paths, and the help they sometimes received from sympathetic citizens. Did you know that elements of the Underground Railroad run through the
Quaker village of Lincoln, in western Loudoun County?
The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, settled here by the 1730’s. Many Quakers were early abolitionists, warning against the evils of owning slaves. Quaker leader, Samuel M. Janney, a Lincoln resident, wrote: “Ours is the only religious society in slaveholding states that bears testimony against slavery –…”
Loudoun Quakers in the Lincoln area made efforts to abolish slavery in the decades leading up to the Civil War, 1861-1865. Quakers involvement........ Read more in our latest edition of "Did You Know?" click on the link below
We are continuing our research in this area and welcome any facts, artifacts, documents, etc relating to this subject in Lincoln and the Goose Creek Historic District that you may have. Please help us by contacting us or submitting the information by clicking here