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Bench honoring enslaved workers dedicated at Smithfield’s 250th anniversary

An oak bench with Hokie Stone as the base.
Roxy Todd
/
RadioIQ
The Merry Oak memorial bench was made with wood from an oak tree, shown in the background, which was once an important gathering place for enslaved people. The tree, which is estimated to have lived 350-500 years, was damaged during a 2020 storm.

Over the weekend, people from across the country traveled to Blacksburg to mark the 250th commemoration of the Historic Smithfield home.

Reenactors in tricorner hats and long dresses filled the lawn of the former plantation. Blacksmiths hammered in the forge, a cannon was fired.

But a somber, quieter event marked one of the weekend’s most important moments. The dedication of a bench, made with wood from an oak tree that was a spiritual gathering place for hundreds of enslaved people.

“Probably what makes it so special now in this day and age is because the tree started rapidly dying when we started coming back,” said Kerri Mosley-Hobbs, a descendant of the Fraction family, one of the enslaved families that worked at Smithfield.

She started researching their history, inspired by conversations with her grandmother about their family’s history. Her grandmother told her everything she remembered, and they began doing research online. Then her grandmother passed away.

“So after that it became a passion project as an ode to my grandmother,” Mosley-Hobbs said.

A few years ago, Mosley-Hobbs traveled from her home in Maryland to Blacksburg to Smithfield and to the Merry Tree. Shortly after she first saw the tree, a windstorm blew it down. Her family worked alongside Historic Smithfield to design a memorial bench, and a plaque with a poem they wrote about its significance. A local woodworking business, Phoenix Hardwoods, built the bench.

In a nearby field, the tree’s remnants are still present. Mosley-Hobbs says her family, Smithfield, and Virginia Tech are working together to figure out what to do with it. Just as they’re also discussing how to create a more inclusive future, and deal with the long-standing impacts slavery had for Black Americans.

“The tree is gonna sit there, half broken, waiting for us to figure out, just like it waited for us to come back,” Mosley-Hobbs said.

The Merry Oak Bench is located in the parking lot at Smithfield, which borders Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg Campus.

A large tree with sprawling branches stands in a grassy field.
Sarah Myers
/
Virginia Tech
The Merry Oak Tree before it was damaged in a storm.

Roxy Todd is Radio IQ's New River Valley Bureau Chief.