Zenda, Virginia

Henry Carter, Milton Grant, William Timbers, and Richard Fortune were the first people to settle there, each on two acres.^[4] These men are also credited with naming the community Zenda.^[4] The community was also known as Little Africa and Old Athens.^[3]

The land for Zenda came from part of a farm which William and Hannah Carpenter deeded to trustees of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ for the use of Black residents of the area.^[1][3] The deed specified that the property was to be used for a church, burial ground, and schoolhouse "for the colored people in this community ... and to their successors forever."^[1]

Zenda developed as a rural Black community with homes, a church, a school, and a cemetery.^[1][3] Residents built homes and acquired additional land over time.^[1][3] Adults worked primarily on neighboring farms.^[3] Others were employed as hotel workers, carpenters, or mail carriers.^[3]

Education was an important part of community life in Zenda.^[1] Longs Chapel housed the community's first school.^[1][5] In 1877 Lucy F. Simms began her teaching career there before later becoming a prominent Black educator in Harrisonburg.^[5][1] In 1882, another school building known as the Athens School or Athens Colored School was built.^[1][3]

In 1922, the school's capacity was 28 students, with 25 enrolled and about 13 attending regularly.^[3] Because there were few schools for African-American children in the surrounding countryside, students traveled from as far away as Keezletown to attend.^[3]

In the early 1900s, some residents moved away.^[6] The Athens School closed accordingly in 1925.^[6] Students from Zenda then attended Effinger Street School in Harrisonburg.^[6] In 1940, one Black family lived in Zenda.^[6]

• Long's Chapel and Cemetery – Roots Run Deep / Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project
• Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project
• Longs Chapel – Virginia Department of Historic Resources
• Long's Chapel and Zenda Historical Marker – Historical Marker Database
• Zenda Community – AfroVirginia
• Zenda: An African-American Community of Hope – Rockingham County Public Schools

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