Look to your left for the sturdy, gray-painted brick building topped with a steep, sloping slate roof and a black metal railing trimming the top edge.
That roof caps off a place born out of sheer grit, the Odd Fellows Hall. Originally a modest 1864 building for a struggling church, it was bought in 1869 by three local African American men to secure it for the Black community.
To expand it, they hired George Lewis Seaton. Seaton was a master carpenter who was born free, and he did not just help shape the city skyline, he shaped its politics as the first African American elected to the Virginia General Assembly from north of the Rappahannock River.
Under Seaton's direction, they transformed this into the largest structure built by African Americans in Alexandria outside of churches. It became a physical fortress for a people carving out autonomy in a hostile world. You can check your screen to see its impressive preserved exterior in a photo from 2009.
This ambitious expansion almost ended in disaster. By 1875, severe financial struggles threatened the hall with foreclosure. But Seaton stepped up again, negotiating a crucial loan to repay the Freedmen's Bureau and saving the building.
Firmly rooted here in the Bottoms, Alexandria's oldest African American neighborhood, the hall became the premier gathering spot. It hosted groups like Masons and the Daughters of Zion. These were mutual aid societies, vital networks where members pooled resources to handle sickness and burial costs. They gathered here for both joyous Emancipation Day dances and solemn funerals.
Decades later, the building barely escaped demolition during urban redevelopment, eventually becoming condominiums in the eighties. You can watch the historic Odd Fellows Hall transform as it emerges from an extensive remodeling project to reveal its restored facade just a year later.
Today it is a residential building, open weekdays from nine to five and closed on weekends, but its foundation remains powerful. Take a moment to consider the unshakeable legacy left in these very bricks, then let us stroll to the Bayne-Fowle House, just a three-minute walk away.
