Gum Springs will be celebrating 190 years of its founding by freedman West Ford on Saturday, June 17, 2023.  To kick-off the celebration, there will be an unveiling of a Virginia historical highway marker for West Ford on Fordson Road (near Richmond Highway & Fordson Road) at 10:30 a.m.  Special guests include Linda Allen Hollis, Author and Descendant of West Ford; Jill Abramson, Journalist and Author of "Did George Washington Have an Enslaved Son?"; Matt Briney, Vice President, Media & Communications, George Washington's Mount Vernon and John Mullen, Member of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources Review Board.  Immediately following the unveiling, the community celebration will transition to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Park in Gum Springs (8115 Fordson Road) for community activities to include a health fair, carnival rides, information vendor tables, music, food and an auction using "community bucks."