Yahoo Movies Family Discovers New Va. Home Was a Plantation Where Their Ancestors Were Enslaved: 'Heart-Wrenching'
When Air Force veteran Fred Miller bought a home in southern Virginia two years ago, he had no idea of the tragic link his family already shared with the property.
In a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, Miller, who is Black, recalled how he and his family discovered the Pittsylvania County home he purchased in May 2020 had been a 1,300-acre plantation known as Sharswood in the 1800s.
"I was a little shocked by that, I would say," said Miller, 56, who bought the property — now 10 1/2 acres — above the $220,000 asking price.
Though he lives in California, Miller grew up down the road from the Virginia property, which he would walk past with family members during his childhood. As an adult, he figured the property would be the perfect place for the family to spend quality time together.
"I just wanted somewhere to have family gatherings," he told 60 Minutes.
Following the purchase and discovery, Miller's sister, Karen Dixon-Rexroth, and their cousins, Sonya Womack-Miranda and Dexter Miller, continued to look into the home's past and soon found out that the family who operated Sharswood also shared the "Miller" last name.
"If I had known there was a 'Miller Plantation,' I maybe could have… put a connection with the last name Miller and that plantation," Fred told 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl. "But I'd never heard of a 'Miller Plantation' or a 'Miller' anything."
According to the Washington Post, the family worked with Karice Luck-Brimmer, a local African-American genealogy researcher, and traced their family's past.
"Something drew me to knowing the history of this place," Dixon-Rexroth told 60 Minutes. "I knew it was an old place from the 1800s, so I started from there, as far as looking at the previous owners, and also any records that were available online."
Through their research, the family tracked down the parents of their great-great-grandmother, Sarah Miller, the Post reported.
Records reportedly showed the couple, Violet and David Miller, lived a short distance from Sharswood. A document they later found linked the couple's young son, Samuel, to the plantation. An "N.C. Miller" was listed as the enslaver.
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"Since the revelation… I know that when the slaves brought food into the main house, they came up through the basement stairs," Fred told 60 Minutes. "And there's a distinct wear on the basement stairs from years and years of traffic, of people walking up those stairs, I'm thinking, 'Wow, these are my people.'"
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The family later discovered a cemetery for the plantation's enslaved people is located just past the home's property line, according to 60 Minutes.
"It was heart-wrenching, I'll tell you that," Fred said of seeing the cemetery.
Fred told the outlet that he plans to restore the quarters where the enslaved people once lived, all with the goal of educating people about the history of slavery.
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He also hopes his ancestors — including his great-great-grandmother Sarah — would be proud of the family today.
"I just hope that somehow she's looking down from heaven," Fred told the Post, "and finally cracking a beautiful smile."
