Evidence from an oral history study suggests there was a small
free people of color community in this area before the Civil War. Free African American families were established primarily by unions between white slave owners and African or African-American women during the colonial period, when the working class lived and worked together. During
World War I, the properties of many primarily
African-American landowners along the former Yorktown-Williamsburg Road were taken to create a military reservation now known as
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. Oral histories indicate that as many as 60 African-American families were displaced by the Navy, and many of these were said to own their land. Three churches also had to vacate the desired land. Assisted by self-educated farmer
John Tack Roberts (born approximately 1860), who studied law and became a magistrate, many of the displaced residents of Lackey were able to obtain financial compensation from the government for their property. A number relocated to the community of
Grove in nearby
James City County. Others moved to Williamsburg, or Lee Hall. Many were unable to buy comparable areas with their compensation, and turned from farming to other trades. Another small community, also named Lackey, was later developed along the Yorktown Road a few miles away. However, the original Lackey is now considered extinct and one of the many
lost towns of Virginia. ==See also==