Dedicated to the Cause: Thomas A. Johnson is Auctioning His Historic Building Linked to Tredegar Iron Works for Seed Money to Establish Woodworking School & Village

Lynchburg, VA, July 07, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Sustainable furniture manufacturer Thomas A. Johnson is scheduled to auction his stunning historic riverfront property in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia in August in order to secure seed money needed to establish Mayflower Landing (www.mayflowerlanding.org), an exciting development that will center around a woodworking school on his second property consisting of 34 acres on Mayflower Dr. The property is near and dear to Johnson who immigrated to Lynchburg from Ghana, West Africa in the early 1990s with just $20 in his pocket and a dream. Johnson established his fine furniture business named Thomas A. Johnson Furniture Co. in the building but always dreamed of establishing a state of the art woodworking school. He has already begun moving his business to the Mayflower Dr. location and recently learned from The Elevate Media Group, a media and marketing group in Atlanta, Ga, that the property he is auctioning was the site of Irish and Scottish-American Iron and Railroad entrepreneur F.B. Deane's second business that made significant contributions to the Confederacy during the American Civil War and to the early American Railroad System. He also learned that F.B. Deane is the founder of Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Va and established FB Deane Jr. & Son in Lynchburg on the site of his property after resigning as President of Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond in 1847. Prior to resigning, Deane hired Joseph Reid Anderson who was 28 years old at the time, as a commercial sales agent. By 1860 Anderson had become president of the company and increased the use of slave labor in the business to record numbers. Under his direction Tredegar Iron Works became the third-largest iron manufacturer in the United States and served as the primary iron and artillery production facility of the Confederate States of America, during the American Civil War. Johnson's 60,000 square foot property at 1612 Concord Turnpike in Lynchburg, VA is scheduled to be auctioned on August 16, 2013 by TRF Auctions of Lynchburg, Va and marketed in conjunction with The Elevate Media Group, LLC of Atlanta, Ga. Additional information on the auction, history of the property, and auction registration can be found at www.1612ConcordTurnpike.com .