The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is closed on Sundays. The Starr Hill Farmers Market fills the Jefferson School City Center at 233 4th Street NW from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM every Sunday through November 22. Anyone who comes for produce and baked goods arrives on the one day of the week the galleries are dark.
The school's centennial year has a second exhibit that keeps no hours. In February, the Heritage Center hung banners along West Main Street between 4th and 8th Streets, and they hang there on Sundays too. Buy first, then walk, and the centennial is available on the same morning as the market.
One building, two schedules
The Jefferson School City Center is a single address that runs on different calendars depending on the day.
| Day | Starr Hill Farmers Market | Heritage Center exhibits |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Open, 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM through November 22 | Closed |
| Saturday | No market | Open, 10 AM to 1 PM |
| Tuesday to Friday | No market | Open, 1 PM to 6 PM |
The Heritage Center's permanent exhibition, Pride Overcomes Prejudice, tells the story of the school through the voices of people who attended it. It is a Saturday or weekday visit. The center also leads tours on the third Saturday of each month, including mural and monument tours, parks tours and history tours. That puts the next two on October 17 and November 21, and the second falls the day before the market's final Sunday.
What the banners mark
A 29News report on the banners notes that Jefferson High School opened in 1926. Charlottesville's Black community had first asked for a high school in 1875, 51 years earlier. The school served as a high school until 1951, when Burley High School opened.
The banners mark where the surrounding community lived, worked and worshipped. Some stand in front of First Baptist Church. Others mark a site that now houses a wine shop and was once Kessler's funeral home. Andrea Douglas, the Heritage Center's executive director, has said the aim is to make that history visible in places people already walk every day.
That aim explains why the exhibit works on a market Sunday. A gallery asks you to arrive. A banner at a wine shop tells you what stood there before, and you learn it on the way to somewhere else. The Heritage Center's app adds audio-narrated stories and a walking tour, so a phone can carry the interpretation the closed galleries cannot offer on Sunday.
The building itself is still in daily use. It holds the Carver Recreation Center and Piedmont Virginia Community College culinary classes, alongside eight local nonprofit tenants. Kimberly Sheffield became executive director of the Jefferson School Foundation in January 2026. The Foundation marked the centennial on August 10 with an alumni and descendants reception and a community run, so the big public celebration is behind us. The banners are what remain in daily view.
One practical note for the walk. The city's West Main Street Utilities Replacement Project is a multi-year effort done in phases. Phase One began July 6 near the Beta Bridge, west of this stretch, and crews were scheduled to work on West Main between 4th Street NW and Ridge Street from August 3 to 13. The city says property access is maintained and that it will announce each later phase in advance. The project page is where those notices appear.
The market is still being assembled
The Sunday market is younger than its setting. The 2026 season began May 17 and is run by Market Central, a nonprofit, under an agreement with the Jefferson School Foundation. It is producer-only, meaning farms, small food businesses and a few artisans, and it accepts SNAP and Virginia Fresh Match.
The vendor list is still changing. On September 13, Market Central announced two additions: Illicit Catering, which makes corn-dough empanadas, and Clementines Fine Baked Goods, with cookies, muffins and tea breads. Encanto Homestead returned with fruits and vegetables. Market Central has also said it is still recruiting farmers and producers to cover gaps when vendors cancel, and that it hopes to form a community land trust to buy a space for a year-round market.
So Sunday in Starr Hill is a routine with room to grow. The centennial banners give the walk after the market a spine for this season.
Dinner is a few doors down the same street
West Main has two restaurants side by side. Oakhart Social is at 511 W Main and Public Fish & Oyster is at 513. Both appeared in the 2024 edition of Cville Right Now's Charlottesville 29, its list of the city's essential restaurants.
Oakhart works as a small-plates room. Diners describe grilled oysters, a hanger steak with chimichurri and a tuna crudo among the dishes to order, and a couple can get through three or four plates. Public runs a raw bar with oysters prepared several ways, plus steam pots and lobster. Confirm hours and reservations directly with either restaurant before you go, since online listings differ.
A banner walk that ends at the 500 block is a plan that works with a table booked in advance.
The festival's final day overlaps with the market
The 39th Virginia Film Festival runs October 21 to 25. Its office is at 617 W Main Street, on the second floor, on the same corridor as the banners and the two restaurants. The lineup was announced September 22, with Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut as opening night film. Tickets went on sale at noon on Friday, October 2. Starting Monday, October 19, a downtown box office opens in the lobby of Violet Crown.
Last October's festival screened 131 films and drew 23,651 attendees, according to Cville Right Now. October 25 is a Sunday and the festival's final day. Market Central has said a special event is planned at the Starr Hill market that same day. No details have been published, so it is worth checking Market Central before making plans. A morning at the market followed by a closing-day screening is possible without a car.
The fall, in order
- Friday, October 2: Virginia Film Festival tickets went on sale at noon.
- Saturday, October 17: The Heritage Center's third-Saturday tour.
- Monday, October 19: The downtown Film Festival box office opens at Violet Crown.
- October 21 to 25: The Virginia Film Festival.
- Sunday, October 25: The market's special event and the festival's closing day.
- Saturday, November 21: The last third-Saturday tour of the market season.
- Sunday, November 22: The final Starr Hill Farmers Market of 2026.
If a fall spent between the market tables and the centennial banners has you thinking about what comes next for your own address, the team at Nest Realty is happy to talk it through. Get Started Now.
