by AnnGardner Eubank
KILMARNOCK—Descendants of Armistead S. Nickens, Lancaster County’s first black elected official, presented Carroll Lee Ashburn, president of the Kilmarnock Museum, a display recognizing the life and contributions of Nickens on Monday, October 25.
According to Francine Aytes Hunter, the display is a part of the process of getting a much larger historical project.
The group of women said they have been working for several years to have a highway marker honoring Nickens erected in Lancaster County. On September 23, the Virginia Board of Historic Resources approved the marker.
The marker will read: “Armistead Nickens was born into a family of free people of color that included at least 12 veterans of the Revolutionary War. In 1867 the local agent of the Freedmen’s Bureau identified him as a strong potential candidate for….