Freetown, Virginia
Freetown is an unincorporated community in Albemarle County, Virginia.
In 1976, former resident and famous chef Edna Lewis wrote The Taste of Country Cooking to preserve the rich flavors of her childhood, but also to celebrate the place she came from, Freetown, Virginia. Former slaves, including her grandfather, bought the land and founded a vibrant farming community whose rhythms revolved around the crops they planted, harvested and transformed into dishes like green peas in cream, ham biscuits and fresh peach cobbler with nutmeg sauce. Because of the wide popularity of Ms. Lewis and her books, the recipes and traditions of Freetown are among the most widely known of the American culinary milieux.
