SLAVE TRADE
Farish House. Now Old Wing of Monticello Hotel. J. Rawlings Thomson
Number Nothing (now Numbers 240-242 Court Square) is the original house on this lot. It was built in 1820; a double store, separately owned and handled. The name comes from the fact that at first the lot was intended for a horse lot. When it was sold the other lots had been numbered in rotation; a sequence was impossible, so Number Nothing was chosen. Traditions of the slave trade cluster here. Until some forty years ago there was on its Southern side, at the curb, a large stone, some eighteen inches high, by fifteen inches wide, and thirty long, which was known as the slave block. Here the village auctioneers long functioned, and doubtless when slaves were brought in, their dealers made use of these facilities. A fragment of an old sign may still be deciphered on this wall: “... and Bros. Auction Rooms.” The stone was unintentionally removed during recent street repairs.