Action at Wilson’s Wharf reenactor, 2021: During the May 1864 Action at Wilson’s Wharf, two regiments of the United States Colored Troops successfully defended a Union supply depot against a Confederate cavalry division. Smith says of D.C., a battle reenactor, “He was very serious about his part. He had a speech — almost a performance — that he kind of demanded I listen to first.”
Charles City County might be thousands of miles from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, but it feels like home to Christopher “Puma” Smith.
“It was comfort, peace of mind, stillness for me,” Smith says of the first time he visited the area. “The social interaction is very similar to where I grew up. You can be on a porch, hanging out with friends, and people drive by, sticking their hands out the window just to say hello. It’s the same with me hanging out in my yard in St. Thomas.”
Smith found photography through music. More than a decade ago, while on tour in Portugal as a vocalist with the band Thievery Corporation, he decided to document his experiences. “I went to a local mall, picked up a digital camera and got hooked,” he says.
He continues to work as a musician, but Smith is drawn to the art of photography as a different form of expression. “There are people who want the cameras pointed at them; there are people who would rather be behind the camera,” he says. “I like to see someone who is really talented or [see] a story and be the person telling the story.”
In 2019, when a friend from the store Richmond Camera took Smith to Charles City County, he felt an instant connection. “It was the country vibe, the rural vibe that attracted me,” Smith says. As he photographed the social justice protests in Richmond following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Smith found himself traveling more often down Route 5, seeking to learn more about the history of race relations not only in the United States but in Virginia.
“History is packed in Charles City,” he says. “It’s nothing new within the story of America, but people in Richmond have no idea that it’s there. You can see the racial divide but also see collaborations that proved that people who disagree on a racial topic can also collaborate on other things. Within that collaboration, that racial divide breaks down. Prejudices, which are basically ignorance, dissolve in time.”
Princess Anne Hunt at Evelynton Plantation, 2021: Members of the Princess Anne Hunt Club gather October through March for riding and fox hunts. Smith captured honorary whipper-in Jerel Johnson during one hunt’s opening ceremony, before Johnson began his work helping the huntsman keep the hounds on task. “Most people think [the job] is not letting the hounds stray, but it’s much more difficult, a much more disciplined part of the hunt,” Smith says. Founded in 1927, the club’s territory extends from Richmond to Williamsburg and King William County to Suffolk.
Princess Anne Hunt hound walk, 2020: Huntsman Martyn Blackmore of the Princess Anne Hunt Club tosses a biscuit to one of the club’s hounds following a daily morning walk around Westover Plantation, where the hounds have their kennel. “[The club] has more than 90 hounds, and they know every hound by name,” Smith says. “When they hunt or go for a walk and a hound strays, they are called by name.” Smith took this shot with his 1960s Hasselblad camera.
James Nemo Bradby, 2021: Smith went looking for Bradby, who was elected in 1967 as the first African American sheriff in the U.S. but died only three months later. His death is usually attributed to suicide, but Smith has talked with descendants in the county who believe the Ku Klux Klan murdered him. “He’s buried in Little Elam Baptist Church cemetery” in Charles City, Smith says. “That was easy to find, but it wasn’t easy to find the grave.”
Liberty Baptist Church, 2021: Smith was drawn to this church, built by freed African Americans after the Civil War, because it illustrates the limits imposed on Black people after emancipation. “For a while, Black churches couldn’t have Black pastors, or if they did, the pastors had to be supervised by a white pastor, and they also didn’t have the same pastor every week,” he says. “There’s a cemetery in the back with significant [county] ancestors. It was a significant landmark I felt I needed to see.”
Ridgley Copland, 2022: The Copland family operates North Bend Plantation, a Virginia Historic Landmark, as a bed-and-breakfast and a working farm, with corn, wheat and soybean fields. Smith says his first meeting with Copland came after he simply knocked on her front door. Because of the pandemic, they spent hours outside, exploring the grounds, with Copland sharing the property’s history. “She’s another person where I just pull up and hang out for hours,” Smith says. “She wants me to go to church with her and call her ‘Nana.’ ”
Chickahominy River, 2021: This cluster of bald cypress trees sits at the mouth of the Chickahominy River where it meets the James River at the southeastern corner of Charles City County. Smith found the spot one day as he was exploring the county and took the picture after he saw two eagles fighting over a fish. He notes that the river still bears the name of the region’s original occupants, the Chickahominy tribe, whose members still live in the county.
Benjah Photography at childhood home, Sandy Fields Farms, 2019: Ben “Benjah” White is a friend from the Richmond Camera store who introduced Smith to Charles City County. “I’d always seen [Benjah] in a professional setting, but that day, he was in overalls, and we just drove around the farm taking pictures,” Smith says. When a black snake appeared, Benjah stopped the car and picked up the benign reptile. “I just told him to hold it so I could take photos,” Smith says. “I waited for the right moment and got the snake sticking out its tongue.”
Black Gum Saddle Club member, 2021: Smith captured this image of a member of the Black Gum Saddle Club following a joint ride with the Princess Anne Hunt Club. BGSC is a Western horseback riding club with a predominantly Black membership; they have social rides and provide opportunities for area youth to get on horseback. “A lot of horses aren’t very patient, especially when they’ve just come from a ride,” Smith says, “but this one was almost posing for me.”
Parrish Hill School, 2021: Of the more than 5,000 Rosenwald Schools that were built in the U.S. in the early 20th century to educate African Americans, especially in the rural South, three remain in Charles City County. This three-room school was built in 1920, replacing a one-room building that dated to the late 1800s. Smith says he’s found a class photo showing teachers and students at the school. Efforts are underway to preserve and restore the county’s Rosenwald Schools.
