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Free Union is a small unincorporated community in Albemarle County, Virginia, United Stats, ten miles north-northwest of Charlottesville. The area was first settled in the mid-1700s and became a part of Albemarle County in 1761. The village was originally referred to as Nicksville after a free slave blacksmith named Nick, who had opened a blacksmith's shop there in the early 1800s. When a post office was established in 1847, the name was changed to Free Union to avoid confusion with Nixville, another post office in the county[1]. The name was taken from that of the Free Union Church, which had been built in 1837 and is still operating as the Free Union Baptist Church. The church was "free" in that all races were welcome to worship there, and it was a "union" of four denominations of Christianity, none of which could have afforded a church of their own at that time[1].
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Coordinates: 38°09′17″N 78°33′52″W / 38.15472, -78.56444
