From Columbia Pike to Little Falls Road: Remembering the Enslaved People of Arlington

Follow the trail of stumbling stones—six-inch round memorial plaques embedded in Arlington’s sidewalks—that commemorate the lives of enslaved people who helped build our county and our nation. These small but powerful markers invite you to learn about their contributions, struggles, and resilience, and to honor our shared humanity.

The project was initiated by Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington (MEA), a partnership between the Arlington Historical Society and the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington. MEA places stumbling stones engraved with individual names and vital information at documented locations of enslavement throughout the county. The stones are meant to be mentally “stumbled” upon—quiet interruptions in daily life that draw attention to a long-overlooked history. They are inspired by the German Stolpersteine memorials that commemorate victims of the Holocaust.

In 2025, MEA placed 28 stones across Arlington, each honoring a single individual at the site where they were enslaved. Many of these stones were designed and manufactured by students at Arlington Tech High School. The work continues: MEA researchers have documented more than 2,700 enslaved people at 170 sites of enslavement in Arlington and have identified the names of more than 1,100 enslaved Arlingtonians.

MEA’s stumbling stones are the result of broad community collaboration. The stones are fabricated locally, installed by the Department of Environmental Services, and dedicated at public ceremonies attended by descendants, neighbors, students, clergy, historians, government officials, and community members. By remembering together, Arlingtonians share the burden of a difficult past and take steps toward a more just future.

You’ll need a car to visit all of the stones, but most are located at well-traveled, wheelchair-accessible intersections. If you can’t visit in person, you can take the online Stumbling Stone Tour and explore the “difficult, fraught, inspiring, and frustrating stories” of a forgotten past.

Daniel and Thornton Check

• Field workers enslaved along Columbia Pike by Bazil Williams. Freed upon Williams’s death, Thornton later joined the U.S. Colored Troops and helped defeat the Confederacy.
• Northeast corner of Columbia Pike and Ode Street

Con and Killemasce

• Eighteenth-century tobacco farm laborers whose lives are remembered in Boulevard Manor.
• 516 North Livingston Street
  

Sarah Ann Gardener and Isaac Jones

• Enslaved at Green Valley Manor farm by Anthony and Presha Fraser. Visit their stones in front of the historic Lomax A.M.E. Zion Church, then walk to the church cemetery to see their gravestones.
• 2704 24th Road South

If you do “stumble” upon these stones, consider—as Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak observed—“how pervasive and woven into our nation’s history slavery really was.” And don’t stop there. Heed the words of Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Francisco Durán, who told fourth and fifth graders at Oakridge Elementary School:

“These stones call on each and every one of us…to make sure there is never a human being who is denied their humanity.”