THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605210185
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: 90 lines
Blacks founded and still live in some of the oldest neighborhoods in Virginia Beach.
Many neighborhoods, like Beechwood off First Court Road in Bayside, go back to the late 1800s and were established by former slaves whose descendants are still living there today.
This holiday weekend, black residents in Bayside will recall some of the rich heritage of their historic neighborhoods at ``I Remember Day.'' The event will be held from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday under a big top tent in Ellis Williams Jr.'s field at Weldon Street and Winter Road in Gracetown.
Entertainment will be by the Virginia Gospel Choir and soloist Rev. Joseph Land. Hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken will be on the menu both days with whole hog barbecue added on Memorial Day.
Exhibits of family photos and mementos will be up for all to see and older residents will be asked to speak about the good old days in Bayside. Among the old photos on display is one of Samuel Wright shucking Lynnhaven oysters in the 1940s and one of ``Nurse Dora,'' a midwife who served the area years ago.
Anyone with pictures and artifacts is urged to contact the event chairman, John Henry Wright, 420-6859, and to display them on I Remember Day.
The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children under 10. Call Wright for ticket information also. All proceeds will go to the Morning Star Baptist Church building fund, to restore the original Morning Star church building next door to the new church.
The plan is to convert the old church to a museum focusing on black history in Virginia Beach, said Mary Williams, chairman of the restoration committee.
``It's the oldest African-American Church still standing in Virginia Beach,'' she said.
Although anyone is welcome to attend I Remember Day, residents from Gracetown, Newsome Farm, Reedtown, Lake Smith, Burton Station and Beechwood are especially invited because the focus will be on these Bayside neighborhoods.
``We want to bring the community together and bring back echoes of the past,'' Wright said, ``so our younger people will know just how it was.''
Wright wants young people to learn about the history of their families and neighborhoods, the kinds of things you don't learn in school. For example he wants them to know about the William Skinner School for black children that was near the entrance to Thoroughgood adjacent to Beechwood.
That's where Wright, who grew up in Gracetown, went to school as a youngster. He recalled that Lavinia Whidbee was not only principal then but also taught grades four through seven. Wright has photos of both the school and Whidbee that will be on display at I Remember Day.
Wright also wants the young folk to know Morning Star church was once an old wooden building heated by a potbellied stove that was in front of the pulpit. Even so, the church was the guiding light behind raising the money to build the school.
``In the early days, the church played an very instrumental part in educating children,'' said local black history expert Edna Hendrix, a Bayside resident, who is helping with the event.
``A picture is worth a thousand words,'' Wright said, ``and then the children will start asking questions.''
He wants them to ask questions about how the older folks made their way despite the barriers of segregation. He wants them to know there was no unemployment among blacks in Bayside in those days.
``We want them to know that if the parents built all this and struggled to get ahead,'' Hendrix went on, ``the kids can do it, too. This is not the time to slack off. This is the time to go forward.''
And a look back at I Remember Day is the start.
P.S. BIRD CALLS: Dr. Ronald M. Ulfohn, who jogs on the Boardwalk, has been seeing yellow-crowned night herons feeding on the beach at dusk.
A Virginia rail has been poking around the garden shrubbery at the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Center in the de Witt Cottage, said director Bob Harvey.
LEARN ABOUT THE LIFE of a Revolutionary War soldier and his wife from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at historic Francis Land House. The re-enactors will cook and make candles as part of the program, which is free with admission to the house. To find out more, call 431-4000.
SNAKES UP CLOSE is a program featuring live snakes from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, and Fight For Survival Of The Loggerhead Sea Turtle is the program from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Sunday, both at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Reservations may be made by calling 721-2412. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know
about Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555.
Enter category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet
address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: ABOVE: Mary Williams and John Henry Wright hope to
convert the old Morning Star Baptist Church into a black history
museum.
AT LEFT: This picture of Nurse Dora, a midwife, will be on display
at I Remember Day. by CNB