Sharswood plantation history: A Virginia home revealed the Millers’ past
Fred Miller bought Sharswood for family gatherings, then records showed his own ancestors had been enslaved there.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
2 min read
The Sharswood plantation history took a personal turn for Fred Miller after the Air Force veteran bought the southern Virginia home for family get-togethers. Research by his relatives later established that their own ancestors had been enslaved at the former plantation, CBS News reported.
Sharswood was the focus of a 60 Minutes report first published in May 2022. Miller had bought the white, Gothic Revival-style house near his childhood home without knowing the property’s connection to his family, according to CBS.
The home was built in the 1850s by a slave-owning uncle and nephew who shared the Miller surname, CBS reported. The Thompson family acquired the property in 1917 and owned it for more than a century. Bill Thompson’s sister sold it to Fred Miller in May 2020, CBS said.
How did Sharswood reveal the Miller family’s history?
Miller’s sister, Karen Dixon-Rexroth, urged him to purchase the property and then began examining its previous owners and available records. Their cousins Dexter Miller and Sonya Womack-Miranda also took part in the work.
With help from Karice Luck-Brimmer, identified by CBS as a local historian and genealogist, the relatives found documents proving that ancestors of the family had been enslaved at Sharswood.
The discovery changed the way Fred Miller viewed the home. He told 60 Minutes that wear on its basement steps made him think of the enslaved people who had used them to bring food into the main house.
Where is the Sharswood cemetery?
During a conversation with Dexter Miller, Bill Thompson pointed the family toward a stand of trees just beyond Fred Miller’s property line. CBS described the area as the likely burial site of the Millers’ enslaved ancestors.
The family visited the site with the 60 Minutes team. Fred Miller later told the program that the experience of seeing it was painful after years of wondering where the cemetery was.
What happened at Sharswood after the report?
By February 2023, Fred Miller had moved back to Virginia and created the nonprofit Sharswood foundation, CBS reported. The organization was established to maintain the slave quarters and cemetery, and Miller was offering tours of the house.
The family’s research also became the subject of a book. In July 2024, WDBJ reported that Womack-Miranda had published Un-named, The Search for Sarah Miller, about tracing the family’s enslaved ancestors amid the limited documentation available before 1870.
The dates of Miller’s purchase have been reported differently: CBS said the sale occurred in May 2020, while WDBJ’s 2024 report said he bought Sharswood in 2021. Both accounts agree that the ancestral connection was discovered only after the purchase.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.