Celebrating Diversity in Charlottesville with the Discover Black Cville Trail

Charlottesville is more than just a college town or the home of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Recognizing the need for more open dialogues about race, history, diversity, and inclusivity, the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau created Black Cville, a community-led initiative that promotes historically accurate, authentic Black stories, and seeks more equitable representation in the tourism economy in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

What is Black Cville? 

Black Cville was launched nationally as "Discover Black Cville" in March 2022 at IX Art Park. The park is home to a beautiful mural, "Dreamin’ Queen," which was completed by the same local artists — Jae Johnson and Laura Lee Gulledge — who designed the Discover Black Cville logo. 

Fun Fact: IX is also home to Virginia’s first immersive art museum, The Looking Glass.

As part of Black Cville, a digital directory connects residents and travelers with local Black-owned or Black-operated businesses. Here are a few businesses to add to your itinerary on a visit to Charlottesville.

Shop Black-Owned Businesses in Charlottesville

Restaurants & Food Trucks

Petit MarieBette is a cozy place to stop for lunch as well as sweet treats. Located near the Downtown Mall, this bakery and coffeehouse is reminiscent of a Parisian pâtisserie. The full-service restaurant location, MarieBette Café & Bakery, is best known for its brioche feuilletée, a one-of-a-kind pastry made with flaky brioche dusted with sugar and intriguing flavors that include hazelnut praline and orange-vanilla cream.

Treat yourself to locally roasted coffee and hand-held sweet and savory pies when you spot The Pie Guy on the Downtown Mall or at community events around town.

Looking for Southern cooking? The popular food truck Angelic’s Kitchen will have your mouth watering. Known for their delicious fried fish, Angelic's also provides catering services and sells its popular seafood breading. 

Another soul food spot, Royalty Eats, serves everything from chicken and waffles to crab cakes. Owned and operated by Nakesha White, the catering company operates at events around town. 

Keep exploring Black-owned restaurants around Virginia. 

Retail & Entertainment

Nourish your hair with natural hair care products from Kank’s Store. Unwind with DreaTchal, a full-service massage studio offering a variety of massages and HydraFacials.

To spark your creative side, visit The Art Bar, an arts and crafts bar whose mission is to bring people together over crafts. The company facilitates artist-led workshops and events for all ages. 

Keep exploring Black-owned businesses in Charlottesville through Heart & Soul, which features an interactive map of featured spots and more recommendations for traveling in Central Virginia. 

Wine Industry

The Charlottesville area is known around the world for its wine, and is home to several Black-owned wine businesses. 

Matt Harmon decided to pursue his passion for wine and started Harmony Wine after being laid off from his job in 2020. His company sources grapes directly from vineyards in Virginia, and one of Harmon’s primary motivations for creating his company was providing opportunities for people of color to feel more comfortable drinking wine.

Another Black-owned company with a similar focus is Black Women Who Wine. Founded in 2019 by LaTasha Durrett, the company’s mission is to bring more diversity to Virginia’s wine industry and to provide a space for Black women to come together to share their love for wine. Through local events and meetups at Virginia wineries, Durrett seeks to form partnerships with local stakeholders to improve representation in the hiring and marketing in the industry.

Find more Black-owned wineries and breweries around Virginia. 

Notable Places in Charlottesville’s Black History

The most famous landmark in Charlottesville, the University of Virginia, was constructed by enslaved people in the early 1800s. Steps from the iconic Rotunda at UVA, the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers honors the more than 4,000 enslaved people who built and maintained Thomas Jefferson’s university.

Enslaved people also built and maintained Monticello, where visitors can exhibits, such as "The Life of Sally Hemings," that focus on the experiences of the more than 400 enslaved people who lived there.

To learn more about the city’s diverse history, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is the best place to start. The center opened in 2013 and contains a permanent exhibition as well as the Isabella Gibbons Local History and Digital Humanities Center.

First opening in 1865 as a Freedmen’s school, the Jefferson School occupied several locations during its tenure and was the center of Black education in Charlottesville until its closing in 1965. That same year, the city of Charlottesville razed the school’s thriving African-American neighborhood, Vinegar Hill, via eminent domain. A marker commemorating Vinegar Hill can be found on the Downtown Mall, near the former location of the neighborhood.

Fill your trip itinerary with more Black History sites around Virginia. 

Where to Stay in Charlottesville

The Draftsman is a 150-room boutique hotel located in the heart of Charlottesville. Named for three of Virginia’s founding fathers — Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe — who played a role in drafting cornerstone documents for the new U.S. government, the hotel is beautifully furnished with contemporary, stylish decor and rooms featuring drafting desks, sliding barn-style bathroom doors, and minibars stocked with Virginia beers and wines.

Operated by Thompson Hospitality, the hotel’s restaurant, The Ridley, is an upscale, Black-owned restaurant serving fresh seafood and southern cuisine. Warren Thompson, founder of the restaurant and graduate of UVA’s Darden School of Business, named the restaurant after Walter Ridley, the first Black graduate of UVA and the first Black person to receive a doctoral degree from a traditionally white southern college or university.

Thompson has a special connection to Ridley because Thompson’s father, Fred — who was denied admission to UVA because of his race — studied at Virginia State University during Ridley’s tenure. The restaurant pays homage to Ridley and a percentage of annual profits are donated to The Ridley Foundation.

Keep planning your Cville getaway with our complete guide to visiting Charlottesville.