Humanity Hall Academy: Haunts of Vice
Healthy, peaceful Buckingham County, Virginia. Photo by Joanne Yeck.
Many advertisements in 19th-century newspapers described Buckingham County as both prosperous and healthy. Compared to the malaria-ridden waters further east in Virginia, residents of Buckingham did enjoy a comparatively healthful environment, making it a safer place to send your children to be educated. Elisha G. Hanes, founder of Humanity Hall Academy, stressed this in his frequent notices in the Richmond newspapers. Perhaps just as important to prospective parents was the fact that a country education removed their children from various dangers of city living. This particular advertisement ran in late 1850:
HUMANITY HALL ACADEMY.
The annual exercises of the school will be resumed on 15th January, 1851. Board, tuition, washing, lodging, &c. will be furnished for $100, for a term of ten months. The school is located midway between Buckingham Court House and the Female Collegiate Institute, in a remarkably healthy and desirable neighborhood, remote from the haunts of vice and dissipation. Very particular attention will be paid to the moral development of those entrusted to my care. Address Chambers Mills, Buckingham county, Va.
ELIJAH G. HANES.
For much more, consult: “Elijah G. Hanes and Humanity Hall Academy,” in “At a Place Called Buckingham,” Volume Two.
slate river ramblings . . . . 
Peaceful Buckingham County. The long view from Humanity Hall. Joanne
Dear Readers,
For those who are plagued with the dissatisfaction of noise, hustle, and bustle, enjoy this scene which my family called home from 1791 to 1848. That was the year my family sold out to Col. Hanes.
Sincerely yours,
Harry Stuart Holman