A Brief History of Virginia Beach
Defying massive challenges of geography, infrastructure, and adversity, the Atlantic resort city has experienced exponential prosperity.
The 34 ft tall statue of King Neptune at 31st Street along the Virginia Beach Boardwalk
What is Virginia Beach and Why is it Important?
Virginia Beach is the largest city in Virginia, home to miles of beautiful coastline and bustling tourism industry and military population. With over 13.6 million visitors in 2022, this popular vacation destination has a cultural landscape that draws people from all over the country to its picturesque shores. With origins dating back to the colonial era, Virginia Beach has had a long history of challenges and innovations that has shaped the city into what it is today. The story of Virginia Beach is important, as it shows that areas that were once remote and desolate can become major attractions and hubs of industry, arts, and leisure. Through different historical eras, Virginia Beach has emerged with a rich culture and an established role in Virginia’s economy and way of life.
A Journey Through Time and History in Prominent Places in Virginia Beach
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1
Native People in the Region
We begin our journey through time with the indigenous people who occupied this land for thousands of years prior to European settlement. The Chesepean people occupied this area and were thought to have split off from tribes further south in modern day North Carolina. This point is the location of a former Chesepean village, named Chesepoic, which sat on the banks of the Lynnhaven River. Around the time of the settlement of Jamestown, the powerful nearby Powhatan tribe (who controlled most of the coastal plain region of Virginia) took control of Chesepean land, causing major losses for the tribe. The Powhatan tribe occupied this land until they succumbed to the English settlers in 1644.
2
First Landing at Cape Henry
When the colonists who settled Jamestown first arrived in North America, they landed at a cape in the Northeast of modern day Virginia Beach at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The Englishmen named it Cape Henry and erected a cross. Reverend Robert Hunt said a prayer for safe travels in the new lands and the group continued on their journey inland. Today, there is a stone cross memorial statue that sits where this was believed to have taken place.
3
Adam Thoroughgood House
As Jamestown continued to prosper a few decades later, settlers began to move south, establishing the port city, Norfolk to the west of modern day Virginia Beach. Other settlers, like Adam Thoroughgood, continued to move towards the Atlantic ocean. Coming to the new world as an indentured servant, Thoroughgood made a living for himself and bought 5,000 acres of land in what was then Lower Norfolk County. He served in the House of Burgesses of Virginia and went on to establish the first community in this area, helping build a church and several homes. Today, Thoroughgood's house, built in 1634 still stands on the banks of the Lynnhaven River.
4
Witch Hysteria in Princess Anne County
After Lower Norfolk County was divided into several counties, the area that would become Virginia Beach was established as Princess Anne County. With a few hundred residents at the time, Princess Anne County was a rural area with a few roads and communities. At this time across the American colonies, witch hysteria was at an all time high and Princess Anne County was no exception. Grace Sherwood, a woman who lived in the rural south of the county, was accused of putting spells on neighbors and shapeshifting into a cat. In 1706, She was tried for witchcraft charges and was thrown overboard into the Lynnhaven River with her thumbs tied to her toes to see if she was truly a witch. If she floated, she was guilty of witchcraft and if she sank, she was innocent, but would have died. After being thrown into the water, she managed to untie herself and swam to the surface, leading many onlookers to believe that she was in fact a witch. She was sent to the nearby prison and was held for over a decade until she was pardoned as the witch hysteria died down. She lived the rest of her life with her family and children. She was buried at the (still standing) Ferry Plantation House and is said to haunt the area to this day.
5
Battle of Kemp's Landing
In 1775, just a few months after the Revolutionary War had started, local militias came into contact with British loyalist troops and decided to ambush them at the Battle of Kemp's Landing in the western part of the county. This was a failed attempt, as the British, led by Lord Dunmore (pictured above), won the skirmish. This was the first battle/skirmish in Virginia and also caused the first Virginian casualty in the war.
6
Original Cape Henry Lighthouse
In 1720, the governor of Virginia requested that a lighthouse was built at Cape Henry to help direct the increasing flow of naval traffic in the area. In 1791, after a pause during the Revolutionary War, the lighthouse was finished. This lighthouse became an iconic symbol for the area, becoming Virginia Beach's official symbol in 1962, with it being on the city's seal and flag.
7
Norfolk & Virginia Beach Railroad
During the 1800s, the area along the Atlantic seaboard began attracting more visitors who wanted to vacation at the beach. Small inns and motels began popping up along the beach, however; there was an issue that stunted the community's development - it's location of the beaten path and long travel times. To reach this area with a horse and wagon, it would take two days over rough terrain. In 1887, the Virginia Beach and Norfolk railroad was built, causing travel times to shrink to a 45 minute train ride. This made reaching the resort area much easier and more accessible for guests.
8
The Princess Anne Hotel & Victorian Era
Shortly after the railroad was built, the area began receiving more guests, to which the railroad capitalized on, building a first class hotel, named the Princess Anne Hotel, on the beach. This luxurious hotel didn't hold too many guests until the Jamestown Exposition, an event in nearby Norfolk that celebrated 300 years of American settlement, occurred, bringing in more guests to the hotel. Sadly, the iconic hotel burnt down in a kitchen fire later that year. Despite this, other larger hotels that had been built around the hotel had continued to thrive.
9
A New Era of Transportation
With the dawn of the automobile, travel to leisure destinations were much easier and faster, spawning a need for a paved route to the newly incorporated (1906) town of Virginia Beach. In 1922, the Virginia Beach Boulevard was completed, effectively connecting Virginia Beach to Norfolk and the rest of the country through car travel. Not only did this help the resort area thrive, it also allowed people to move freely through the entirety of Princess Anne County.
10
The Roaring 20s at the Beach
With the influx of tourists by means of automobile, Virginia Beach was beginning to become a more popular vacation spot, with many larger and elaborate hotels being constructed to accommodate this. One of the most iconic hotels to come out of this era is the Cavalier Hotel, a Jeffersonian-inspired luxury hotel, built in 1927, that overlooks the oceanfront. Several US presidents and celebrities have stayed in this hotel and it continues to be an iconic landmark in the city.
11
Post WWII Boom
As the resort area of Virginia Beach became increasingly popular every summer, the permanent population of the surrounding county also grew. After World War II, several military bases were established in the area because of its strategic positioning for the Air Force and Navy, thus bringing more people to the area. In 1952 the incorporated town of Virginia Beach (the resort area) became an independent city because of its notable growth within the prior decades.
12
Interstate Connections
In 1957, the first Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel was constructed, effectively connecting Norfolk and Virginia Beach to the peninsula, allowing faster travel times to Richmond and the rest of the country. In 1960, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was built, connecting the Eastern Shore of Virginia to the rest of the state. For the first time in the city's history, Virginia Beach was now a thoroughfare for travel destinations instead of being a remote out of the way destination. In 1963, Virginia Beach merged with the rest of Princess Anne County, effectively absorbing all of its area. Virginia Beach was now a prominent Virginia city with a much larger population.
13
Suburban Sprawl
Through the 60s and 70s, Virginia Beach's population continued to skyrocket, increasing from 80,000 people in 1960 to 265,000 in 1970. New single family home neighborhoods began to pop up across the entirety of the northern half of Virginia Beach. Many residents of nearby Norfolk (including my own family) began moving to the quieter suburbs of Virginia Beach, boosting the population further.
14
Town Center and Westin Hotel
As the population of Virginia Beach began to reach over 400,000 people, many residents desired an "urban core" to their city, closer than Downtown Norfolk, 20-30 minutes away. In 2000, construction began on the new Town Center, a dense modern style cityscape. One of the buildings in this new area is the Westin hotel, now the tallest building in Virginia at 508 feet. This development shows an interest in catering Virginia Beach's development to local residents instead of tourists. The area has restaurants, luxury apartments, and shops, boosting the local economy.
15
ViBe Creative District
Despite hosting millions of tourists each summer, parts of the Virginia Beach oceanfront built in the 60s and 70s began to become rundown and less appealing to tourists and locals alike. In 2015, there was an effort to revitalize the oceanfront, with a new area called the ViBe District, which features murals from local artists and trendy coffee shops hosting events like flea markets and farmers markets. This has brought a younger crowd to this area and has changed the fate of a crumbling urban area.
Uneven Development in the Seaside City
Persistent flooding from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 .
Since its conception, Virginia Beach has dealt with major inequities and internal issues. One of these disparities is infrastructure; certain areas in Virginia Beach lack necessary infrastructure like sidewalks, public transportation, or have roads that desperately need upkeep, while more affluent areas have better maintained amenities. Another increasingly important matter is dealing with climate change, specifically issues like coastal flooding and hurricane preparedness. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew caused flooding across the city that persisted days after the storm. While some expensive waterfront homes were affected, many of the areas that experienced flooding were lower middle class neighborhoods that did not have methods in place to mitigate the floods. Another clear example of uneven development is the economic disparities between neighborhoods in the city and income in general. Some neighborhoods have million dollar homes with beautiful waterfront views and others struggle to pay rent or find access to healthy food options. The tourism industry has also created further unevenness; foreign born workers at tourist attractions live in small run down apartments while affluent residents have large boats and private beach access just down the road. Just as Neil Smith had stated throughout his career; capitalism needs to ‘produce’ unevenness to sustain itself; and it clearly has in Virginia Beach.
The Virginia Beach - Norfolk Expressway (I-264) brought tourists to the Virginia Beach oceanfront faster than ever before.
Time-Space Compression
The story of Virginia Beach exemplifies how the time-space compression can heavily affect development in an area. Doreen Massey, a prominent 20th century geographer, described the time-space compression as “movement and communication across space, to the geographical stretching-out of social relations, and to our experience of all of this.” Starting out as a desolate, remote location, the resort area of Virginia Beach was only reachable by a two day horse and wagon ride. Once the Norfolk & Virginia Beach Railroad was built, the area had an explosion in popularity that would not have been possible if that two day treacherous journey hadn’t been minimized to only 45 minutes. The use of automobiles, cutting the travel time in half again, further drove guests into the city and eventually pushed it to become an independent city. Bringing people from across the country, whether it was for vacation, military jobs, or other reasons, were all thanks to the innovation of transportation technology that brought Virginia Beach closer to the rest of the state.
The Cultural Landscape
The cultural landscape of Virginia Beach is unique from every other city in Virginia, tracing back to its humble beginnings and distinctive development. Carl Sauer defined cultural landscape, stating “Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result.” Due to Virginia Beach’s miles of scenic coastlines along the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, the culture in the city has everything to do with its geography. Since development, the city has had a vibrant coastal culture, with beach going and water-based activities integrated into daily life. The military influence is also present in the area, with a sizable portion of residents being involved with the service. The city also has a culture of arts and entertainment, with art festivals and theaters throughout. The diverse and rich culture of Virginia Beach is ever changing, however the core spirit of an all-American beach town will live on.
Why Human Geography Matters
Human geography matters because it helps us understand the complexities of human civilization and why it has developed the way it has. It is the culmination of a variety of factors that explain why some areas have developed differently than others or how cultures can be so immensely different from one another. In the context of Virginia Beach, human geography helps us understand the growth of the city over time and the population dynamics that have shaped the city into what it is. It also explains the migration patterns and movement throughout the region that has brought it so much success. Human geography is a lens of looking at humanity and how people interact with the environment, which is crucial to understanding the complex inner workings of this rapidly urbanizing coastal metropolitan area.
