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All the United States Virginia Falls Church Tinner Hill Historic Site
AO Edited

Tinner Hill Historic Site

This monument traces the segregation line that inspired the first rural branch of the NAACP.

Falls Church, Virginia

Added By
Ian Hall
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Zig Zag Monument.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Zig Zag Monument.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Historical information about Tinner Hill Park.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Tinner Hill Historic Site sign.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Historical marker placed by City of Falls Church.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Pavilion at Tinner Hill Park.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Tinner Hill Monument stone plaque.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Tinner Hill Monument acknowledgement plaque.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Joseph Tinner & E.B. Henderson plaque.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
NAACP’s First Rural Branch plaque.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Plaque describing the Zig Zag Monument.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Tinner Hill Historic Site marker.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Stone Arch and stone plaques exhibit.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Tinner Hill Historic Site sign.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Stonemason Charles Tinner and his wife Elizabeth developed the community of Tinner Hill in the late 1800s. He created ten lots on what had previously been a tobacco plantation and bequeathed one to each of his children.

In 1915, one of Tinner's sons, Joseph, joined forces with Dr. E.B. Henderson and other neighbors to form the Colored Citizens Protective League to protest a segregation ordinance— an order that would have forced them out of their homes and into a separate part of town.

The Supreme Court struck down forced housing segregation in the 1917 decision Buchanan v. Warley. The following year, the Colored Citizens Protective League became the first rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1918.

Tinner Hill is now a historical park that sits in the spot where the Tinners lived, not far from where some of their descendants still reside today. The park features several historical markers that highlight critical elements of the struggles faced by the Tinners and their neighbors in the fight against segregation.

The centerpiece of the park is the Zig Zag Monument, which follows the original line that was drawn to segregate the community. The monument is the work of local sculptor Martha Jackson Jarvis and it showcases how political leaders created boundaries to dilute the power of Black voters in 1887.

An additional exhibit featuring a stone arch and several plaques affixed to large stones stands in front of the Target Store across South Washington Avenue. 

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Black History History & Culture Politics

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Added By

blimpcaptain

Published

September 2, 2021

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  • https://civilrightstravel.com/tinner-hill/
Tinner Hill Historic Site
106 Tinner Hill Rd
Falls Church, Virginia, 22042
United States
38.879187, -77.176824
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Henderson House

Falls Church, Virginia

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Falls Church

Falls Church

Virginia

Places 6

Nearby Places

Henderson House

Falls Church, Virginia

miles away

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Falls Church

Falls Church

Virginia

Places 6

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