GORDONSVILLE, Va. (WVIR) -In the years following the Civil War, a group of Black women in Gordonsville turned fried chicken into possibility. Using skill, determination, and courage, they built something extraordinary at a time when few opportunities existed.
“They weren’t just entrepreneurs — they were building a future,” said Gordonsville Visitor Center Director Anna Pillow.
The story began as trains stopped in Gordonsville to switch lines between Richmond and Washington. On the platform, Black women from the town’s Brown Town community saw an opportunity.
They met the trains with trays of fried chicken, coffee, and pies — selling through open windows to hungry passengers who quickly spread the word about the meal worth waiting for.
Right beside that platform stood the Exchange Hotel, once a Civil War hospital, and now a museum symbolizing how the town’s history of hardship gave rise to a story of resilience and enterprise.
“It was a great opportunity for these newly freed women to actually have an impact on the local economy and help provide for their families in a way that they frankly weren’t able to do before,” said Anthony Schienschang, Gordonsville’s Town Manager.
In an era when Black women had few options to earn a living, these entrepreneurs built something powerful. They created a business model that combined resourcefulness and pride — turning a simple meal into a source of freedom. Travelers began calling Gordonsville “the fried chicken capital of the world.”
Today, that legacy lives on through the town’s annual Fried Chicken Festival — a celebration rooted in the tradition these women started more than a century ago.
“In this instance, the women who did this — they were entrepreneurs. They were taking a risk. It was something that would have been unheard of,” Pillow said.
By the late 1800s, Gordonsville began requiring a license tax for anyone selling food along the platform — a sign of just how successful the vendors had become. As dining cars and sealed train windows arrived, the era of window-side meals faded away.
Still, their legacy remains — carried forward by descendants like Denise Thompson, owner of Cooper’s Cookin’ & Catering in Orange County. Her grandmother was one of Gordonsville’s original “Fried Chicken Ladies.”
“We’ve been in business for five years. We started over on Bird Street — just a little place that only holds 12 people,” Thompson said. “I wanted this restaurant to be a place where anybody could come, regardless of the color of your skin or your political background. It doesn’t matter.”
Thompson says her inspiration came from her mother, Mildred Cooper, who passed away before the restaurant opened.
“If you’ve been to Gordonsville, you would know Mildred Cooper,” Thompson said. “I try to take everything that she instilled in me. We have all of her recipes here — everything we do is recipe-based, passed down from my mom and her aunts. The love is here, and I feel her every day.”
Now, that family legacy is growing.
“In about a month, we’ll be moving on down the street to hold 150 people,” Thompson said. “We’ve been really, truly blessed.”
“The more we can share these stories, the more we can preserve them now,” Pillow added. “And I think it’s really important to celebrate stories like these because they’re positive.”
“It’s absolutely an example of people taking some of the worst circumstances you can ever be dealt in life and rising above to make a difference for themselves and their families,” said Schienschang.
Today, a historical marker stands near the old depot — honoring the women who turned courage into commerce and made Gordonsville’s name known far beyond the rails.
The women who once stood on that platform changed more than a menu — they changed what was possible.
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