On September 19, 2019, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved the marker honoring Palmer Hayden in Widewater State Park.

Palmer Hayden, native of Widewater, Stafford County, was a painter during the Harlem Renaissance, who portrayed African-American life, landscapes, seascapes, and African influences in both oils and watercolors.

The John Henry series, 12 paintings about an African-American folk hero, known as the steel driving man, who used his hammer to create railroads and tunnels through mountains, is one of Hayden’s best-known projects.