We are saddened to announce that former Somerset Place Site Manager, Dorothy Spruill Redford passed away Saturday, September 30, 2023. Dorothy Redford served as site manager at Somerset Place for 20 years and spent over a decade prior researching her family and other Somerset descendants’ connection to the former plantation. Dorothy became site manager in 1988 after she had successfully organized the first Somerset Homecoming in 1986. This and subsequent homecomings brought thousands of descendants of the former enslaved community back to the site.
Over the years her work as site manager resulted in three buildings within the former enslaved community, including the reconstruction of the first interpreted slave hospital in the United States. Dorothy retired from Somerset Place in 2008 and her legacy of interpreting the lives of the former enslaved community continues at the historic site today. There will be a public memorial at Somerset Place, in the former enslaved community on Monday, October 9th at 11:00 am. Dorothy will be laid to rest in Virginia following the public memorial service.