News
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on
Remembering Lost Black Communities
We find this across the country. Historic preservation, generally, has focused on the European American legacy, and people are surprised to learn that African Americans have been present for hundreds of years in the same place. And that they actually have a mark, physically, on the space by constructing buildings. And more than buildings, creating a life and creating communities and community institutions that the historical societies are just unaware of.
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The Quince Orchard Project on NPR
Has your community had a ‘past life?’ Does your home address have a back-story? Jason Green is many things, including documentary filmmaker. After discovering something new about his 95 year old grandmother, he set out to capture the memories of the residents of Quince Orchard, a post Civil War, predominately African-American community near Gaithersburg, MD, that thrived for a century before vanishing.
Recently, he was named a Docs in Progress 2015 Fellow for the Quince Orchard Project, a documentary film examining the history and heritage of this community. Listen to a clip from the film. More >>
Historical association to celebrate Quince Orchard community in Gaithersburg
As published by Gazette.net, Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Some might be surprised to learn of the rich history that resides at the Pleasant View Historical Site, a part of the historic Quince Orchard community that still shares the stories and memories of a more than 100-year-old society.
The Pleasant View Historical Association will hold its annual June Festival on Saturday to honor the heritage and ancestry of the community.
Pleasant View Historical Association’s Annual June Festival
Pleasant View Historical Association’s Annual June Festival
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Pleasant View Historical Site, 11810 Darnestown Road, Gaithersburg
Cost: Free
Information: Pearl Green, 301-926-1798
“The JuneFest has been happening for the better part of 30 years where members of that community come back to celebrate the commitments and investments that were made to acquire the property,” said Jason Green, who serves as the counsel to the association. “The celebration is a recommitment to the property.”
The Pleasant View site, 11810 Darnestown Road in Gaithersburg, houses three original structures that all date back to the late nineteenth century. Pleasant View Methodist Episcopal Church, Pleasant View Cemetery and Quince Orchard Colored School are still standing.
Beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday, attendees can enjoy food, music and other activities as part of the celebration. The historic church and school buildings will also be open to tour.
Green, a descendant of the Quince Orchard community and a current North Potomac resident, also will use the event as an opportunity to collect more footage for “The Quince Orchard Project,” the documentary he and his sister, Dr. Kisha Davis, are producing about the area’s history.
The project was conceived after Green and Davis had a conversation with their 95-year-old grandmother, Pearl Green, about her memories. During the conversation, the siblings’ grandmother talked about how much she missed the community she had grown up in, Quince Orchard.
Green and Davis were surprised to learn that Quince Orchard had once been a community of its own, separate from Gaithersburg and other surrounding towns.
“Here was this place that had made some significant investments in education, religion and community service, and we never knew it as a place,” Green said. “‘The Quince Orchard Project’ is an effort to recapture some of that story.”
The documentary includes an entire timeline of history from the Civil War era to the present, as well as the perspectives from those who were part of the community. Green and Davis have been working on it for almost a year.
Green said he has also found interesting material in the responses he hears from younger generations who are now just learning about the history of Quince Orchard. At the festival, he’ll be conducting interviews people who want to share their thoughts for the film.
Through various interviews and historical accounts, the film focuses on a major question.
“Our question is, ‘How do we all, in an increasingly diverse community, preserve, protect and share these stories?’” Green said.
For more information about the documentary, visit thequinceorchardproject.com.
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on
Putting Quince Orchard Back on the Map
Everybody wants to have, perhaps needs to have a place they call home. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to get there. Such is the case for many Quince Orchard residents.
We all know there is a place called Quince Orchard, but where, exactly, is it?
It turns out that the question of where Quince Orchard is was debated over a century ago and potentially answered at a meeting at Pleasant View Methodist Church on an historic dark night in 1968. It was April 4 of that year, and the members of Pleasant View had gathered to discuss a merger with two other local churches: Hunting Hill and McDonald Chapel. A vigorous discussion ensued, and Fairhaven United Methodist emerged from the decisions made at that meeting. It was not just three congregations, but two white churches and a black church that merged that day.
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When the Quince Orchard School was ‘Colored’
In 1874 when Gary Green and several other church trustees sold a house and lot for $5 on the Pleasant View site to the county school board, it was stipulated that the building and lot were to be “used exclusively for the education of colored youth.” The teacher’s salary was to be paid by the community.
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School moves ahead after name decision
When School Board members unanimously agreed Quince orchard should be the name of the upcountry’s newest high school, there was a sigh of relief…
What to name the facility became the focal point of controversy after neighboring residents petitioned the School Board to reject the name Potomac Valley. The residents said that the name Potomac Valley bore no relationship to the region of the county where the school is located.
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Quince Orchard is Noted for its Churches
Quince Orchard is noted for its churches
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on
Quince Orchard Appoints First Black Postmaster
History is shaped by small steps and big leaps of progress.
