Central Point, the home of the Loving couple, is located southeast of Bowling Green near the Essex and King and Queen county lines. Central Point was a multiracial community where Mildred Pierce and Richard Loving grew up, where they lived after their marriage in 1957, and where they were arrested in 1958 for violating Virginia’s 1920s-era Racial Integrity Act that prohibited interracial marriage. 

A judge forced the Lovings to leave their lifelong home of Central Point, and the house that Richard had built for their family. They moved to Washington, DC where they raised their family until their case ultimately reached the US Supreme Court. In 1967, the couple fought for their marriage and their return home, and won. The case Loving v. Virginia found the prohibition of interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. 

After the Supreme Court ruling, the Lovings were able to reutrn to again make their home in Central Point. 

Many of Central Point’s neglected historic buildings are being fought to be preserved by the Lost communities of Virginia, a project of the Community Design Assistance Center at Virginia Tech. Join the fight today.