Around 1870, two formerly enslaved men, John Coles and Benjamin Brown, purchased land from a former slaveholder, W.G. Carr, which marks the beginning of the Proffit settlement. Other freedpeople moved to the area and purchased small lots of land. In 1881, a post office and the Proffit station rail depot were opened. In 1891, the local Black Baptist congregation built the Evergreen Baptist Church. By the 1920s, Proffit was a small but thriving commercial and residential community. The opening of U.S. Route 29 in the early 1930s and the closing of the rail station in the 1940s, transformed the area from a vibrant village to a quiet residential community. The Proffit Historic District was listed in the Virginia Landmark Register in 1998 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Proffit Historic District Online Resource Archive, visit:
http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/afam/proffit/index.html

Virginia Department of Historical Resources, visit:
https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/002-5019/