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Slave Trading Museum Property Up For Sale in Alexandria

Historical drawing

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A northern Virginia row house that once housed one of the nation's largest slave-trading businesses is up for sale.

The Northern Virginia Urban League owns the home in Old Town Alexandria and operates it as a museum called Freedom House.

Newsoutlets report the league put the building up for sale to shed the financial burden of operating a lightly attended museum in an old building with high maintenance costs.

City officials say they'd prefer the building not be sold to a private entity, but that Alexandria is not in position to take over the museum's operation.

Slave traders used the building as a holding pen for several decades in the 19th century to keep slaves arriving through the city's port until they were sold into the Deep South.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.