Woodroof’s Slave Auction & Boarding Business 925 Commerce Street

Seth Woodroof (1804–1875) operated Lynchburg’s most active and infamous slave market here on the west corner of Commerce and Tenth Streets between 1846 and 1865. Woodroof’s extensive brokering and auction business catered to buyers from the deep south, as well as local and regional trade. His lot included a three-story brick building and a fenced yard with a large auction block in the center. Woodroof advertised that his facilities were as secure as the city’s jail.