In Willisville, Two Sisters Acting on Their Dreams

In Willisville, Two Sisters Acting on Their Dreams

By Linda Roberts

When sisters Carol Lee and Janet Hagan reflect on growing up in the small western Loudoun village of Willisville, they recall a time when segregation meant little to nothing to them.

Lee, now 66, described Willisville as “unique” and said, “living here was like living in our own world. We were naïve.”

Hagan, 73, added, “We had entirely different experiences than (Black) children growing up in the city. As children in Willisville, we never experienced what it meant to be Black.”

Sisters Janet Hagan (left) and Carol Lee look over memorabilia collected on Willisville’s oneroom schoolhouse.

Photo by Linda Roberts

Lee continues to make her home in Willisville, while Hagan lives in Rocky Mount, N.C. and visits often because their mother, Ann Lee, 95, still lives in the village. The sisters agree that, “There aren’t too many communities where you can sit and talk with people who went to a one-room schoolhouse.”

It’s thought that the tiny village, with 15 homes, is named for Henson Willis, the first person believed to be buried in one of the community’s three cemeteries. Local landowners Richard Dulaney, John Carter and Townsend Seaton are responsible for making land available to form Willisville because many residents once worked on their adjoining farms. Land ownership anchored residents to the community as they began purchasing lots to build dwellings in the 1870s.

Lee and Hagan are passionate about the preservation of their little village, which provided the springboard to their adult lives and their view of the world. They were instrumental in founding the

Willisville Preservation Foundation incorporated in 2018 as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit entity, helped along the way by the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association among other organizations.

The Willisville Preservation Foundation worked with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources on creation of a highway marker installed last year.

Photo by Linda Roberts

With the support of local historic preservationist Jane Covington, Willisville is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. The foundation has an 11-member board with a mission to keep alive the history and preservation of the village and its schoolhouse and grounds, which also contains an overgrown cemetery.

Originally a one-room private school, which also functioned as a church for the community, the building and its surrounding land were eventually sold to Loudoun County school system. The school continued until 1958 when it closed and students were then bussed to Banneker Elementary in nearby St. Louis, another small western Loudoun village.

Today the school and its grounds, including the cemetery, have changed hands and it is a privately owned home and property.

When looking back at what’s been accomplished so far, Lee and Hagan, backed by the Willisville Preservation Foundation, are now poised to tackle the foundation’s new goals, which include being added to the Loudoun Historic District.

Hagan recalls eating peanuts and drinking Hawaiian punch as an elementary student at the Willisville one-room school.

“You can’t throw your dreams away,” she said. “You have to act on them.”

The Willisville Preservation Foundation seeks information about the history of the village. Contact the Foundation at P.O. Box 659, Middleburg, VA 20118.