In March 1880, William Dove, a formerly enslaved farm worker, bought 36 acres with roughly $210, making him the first Black man to own land in Potomac. Nearly 150 years later, Dove’s descendants joined thousands of Montgomery County community members and Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Friday to celebrate Dove’s story and the emancipation of enslaved African Americans across the country at the annual Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival in Bethesda.  

“My great-great-grandfather could never have imagined this moment,” LaTisha Gasaway-Paul, president of The Juneteenth Scotland Foundation, told the crowd at the festival’s opening ceremony at Cabin John Regional Park. “That is why this moment matters, not because history has ended, but because his story is still being written. And today here in Scotland, we are writing another chapter.”  

A weeklong celebration of Juneteenth culminated in the Friday festival that included a 5K run, a carnival and fireworks show in honor of the holiday that originated on June 19, 1865, when Union troops informed enslaved communities in Texas that they had been freed — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.  

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 after then-President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that officially commemorated the anniversary.  

On Friday, elected officials including Moore, County Executive Marc Elrich (D), County Councilmembers Will Jawando (D-At-large) and Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) joined community members to celebrate that anniversary, as well as recognize the history and continued fight of historic Black communities in the county such as Scotland in Potomac.  

“People can ask questions, ‘Well, why is something like this important in a moment like this?’ Sometimes you have to reply, ‘Folks, it’s because it was built in a moment like this,’ ” Moore told the crowd, referring to actions taken by the Trump administration. “Now we know our strength because we know the shoulders that we stand on: a formerly enslaved farm worker who understood that liberation was not enough, that he demanded freedom, became the first Black man to own land in Potomac. A vision of 500 acres, that’s our history, that’s our power.” 

The festival was initially created as a way for the Scotland foundation to raise money for the rebuilding of Scotland African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church, which was damaged in a 2019 flood, according to the foundation’s website.  

The 2019 flood is believed to have resulted from the 1960s redevelopment of Seven Locks Road, which expanded and raised the road, causing runoff from heavy rains to flood the church’s basement over the years. On July 7, 2019, a severe storm led to flash flooding that filled the basement to its rafters and collapsed one of the building’s walls. The church celebrated its official reopening in 2025.  

According to the festival’s website, the Scotland community dates to March 1880 when William Dove bought 36 acres of land, followed by the purchase of 44 acres by James William Harris and in 1884, the purchase of 9 acres by Noah Mason and 6 acres by his brother Augusta. All were formerly enslaved Black community members. 

The Scotland community has dealt with threats to its existence in the county similar to other local historically Black communities due to 1960s renewal development projects, redlining, racial covenants and exclusionary zoning practices. Now, the community consists of 100 townhomes on Scotland Drive, 25 of which are still owned by descendants of the original community founders. 

Jawando and Friedson — both of whom are frontrunners for the ongoing County Executive race alongside County Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large), who was not in attendance Friday — acknowledged the history and resilience of the Scotland community while speaking during the opening ceremony. 

“Emancipation did not magically deliver equality. It did not deliver opportunity. It did not deliver security. But what it delivered was the right to begin again, to buy a piece of land, to build a church, to bury your dead in ground that you owned, and in 1880 William Dove began,” Jawando said. “So when I look out at this festival today … I don’t see just a celebration, I see the continuation of a legacy.” 

Bethesda Today reporters Elia Griffin and Max Schaeffer contributed to this report