Anthropologist and archaeologist Tim Roberts will present findings from site-specific research on the Dock Street location of the James River Association’s James A. Buzzard River Education Center. The site was once part of Rocketts, one of America’s busiest inland ports in the 18th and early 19th centuries. By the early 1800s, the riverfront had become a mixed-use district where free people of color and enslaved individuals — many “living apart” from their enslavers — formed communities deeply woven into the maritime economy. Roberts will share individual accounts of enslavement, freedom, resistance, and opportunity, set against the backdrop of the James River.

Guests will have the opportunity to view a new, permanent installation at the Center: a series of educational panels, based on Roberts’ research, along the J. A. Buzzard Center’s Experiential Ramp.

An audience Q&A will follow the talk. Light refreshments will be served.

Tim Roberts, MA, RPA, is Founder and Principal Investigator of  Black Star Cultural Resources and former Project Archaeologist and Community Outreach Coordinator with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Tickets are $40 per attendee. Register Now!

Shuttle services will be provided; details to come closer to the event date. DO NOT park at the Great Shiplock Park Dock Street parking lot – this lot is closed and locked at sundown.